





FRANCIS W. PARKER | 
SCHOOL 
STUDIES IN EDUCATION 









CREATIVE EFFORT 









Published by the Faculty of The Francis W. Parker School, Chicago 
_ VOLUME VIII PRICE, FIFTY CENTS 


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FRANCIS W. PARKER 
SCHOOL 
STUDIES IN EDUCATION 











Published by the Faculty of The Francis W. Parker School, Chicago 





VOLUME VIII PRICE, FORTY-FIVE CENTS 


DEDICATION 
Of the “Record” 


It was her power to stimulate in others that thirsting 
love for humanity from which she drew her urge. She 
moved through life like an electric force, shocking vague 
hungers into expression; touching off inward fires till they 
blazed out in glory. And so we hold her in our memory, 
vivid and intense. 


We see her hailing our group of small, exhausted lag- 
gards across the hot dunes. We cry out in weariness and 
thirst. 

“Suck a pebble,” she advises relentlessly. 

We see her holding us at our work on our club house, 
amid rain and snow, grandly unmoved by fear of colds or 
mothers. Nails slip through our numb, bruised fingers, en- 
thusiasm freezes; rebellion flames. But when the shanty 
is completed and lined with sky blue cambric, we marvel 
at the work of our hands, remembering past labors with 
joy and pride. Then she spurs us on to higher effort. 


We see her thrilling dead ages into life for stolid 
youth, whipping drowsy ambition into excitement, faring 
forth at last to scour the world for better ways of making 
small souls grow. 


And we see her brought up short by death, drifting 
from the world on the eve of her greatest contribution, 
bearing with her, in spite of work achieved, an incom- 
municable treasure of potentialities. 


We cannot be reconciled to her loss. 


A Picture of a Creative Teacher. It is the dedication of the school 
annual to the memory of Miss Jennie Hall one year after her death. 
This dedication was written by an alumnus, 


PREFACE 


This is the eighth “Study in Education” which the faculty of 
the Francis W. Parker School has published during the last twelve 
years. Each book has sought to illustrate by concrete examples 
the value of some particular underlying or controlling principle 
in our work. This volume centers attention upon the results of 
children’s creative activity. Our generalized discussion of these 
results we have reserved for the end of the book, believing that 
it will mean more to the reader after the presentation of the con- 
crete material. There are, however, certain tenets of our creed 
which may best be stated at the outset. 

We presuppose that in varying degrees and with wide indi- 
vidual divergences and tendencies, all normal children possess im- 
pulses to create. We do not, therefore, need to justify this out- 
put of children’s work by its intrinsic worth; certainly no genius 
has appeared among us, and as certainly we are not at ail sat- 
ishied with what has been done thus far in our school. We believe, 
however, that such a survey as this may be useful both to our own 
teachers and to other teachers because it uncovers and stresses the 
fact that children of all age, from the youngest ones through the 
high school, will, when given opportunity, pour forth spontaneously 
and joyously their imaginings, ideas, and emotions. Though the 
form of such expression is often crude, we think that it is never- 
theless delightful because of its promise, ingenuousness, and orig- 
inality. 

We believe that we see in this accumulation of creative mate- 
rial genuine encouragement for our conviction that it is a prime 
responsibility of a school to provide for its children both constant 
stimuli to creative effort through books, people, and environment, 
and wide opportunity for continuous and satisfying use of their 
own creative impulses. We believe it shows that genuine, worth- 
while responses come abundantly when there are stimulating sit- 


4 PREFACE 


uations in a child’s environment, where there are experiences which 
stir his emotion and touch his imagination. For such stimuli 
teachers must be responsible, and since there is little suggestive 
data now available,-it would seem valuable if each school would 
share its experience by publishing its most suggestive results. 


Recent scientific investigation and research in educational 
fields has enabled teachers to measure the intelligence of children 
more accurately, to evaluate school subject matter better, and to 
test some kinds of school achievement. For such help we must 
be profoundly grateful; but there is some danger, it seems to me, 
of swinging too far in this direction, of allowing the mere gather- 
ing of data to engross too much of the precious time of children. 
Moreover, in too many schools both teachers and children seem 
so concerned in getting control of tools that they have little time 
to use them constructively or for creative purposes. More than 
ever we need to keep our vision clear to the value of those elements 
in life and education which cannot be measured and which give to 
us all, big and little, the highest aspiration and inspiration, which 
create in us standards of taste and attitudes toward life which go 
far in protecting us from ugliness and sordidness in our environ- 
ment. 


We believe that a study of such material as we cite tends to 
make us realize that creative expression is fundamental to the 
child’s fullest development, to his happiness and his spiritual growth. 
All normal children have the right to live in a rich environment, 
to exercise to the full all their powers of expression, and to have 
every avenue to their souls open and in use. Not everyone can 
contribute to the permanent beauty of the world, but it is the 
privilege of every school to create conditions which should arouse 
each child to express freely in some chosen form his own best 
ideas, inspirations, and emotions. 


Flora J. Cooke 


PREFACE 


CREATIVE 


CREATIVE 


CREATIVE 


CREATIVE 


CREATIVE 


CREATIVE 


CREATIVE 


CREATIVE 
CREATIVE 


CREATIVE 


CREATIVE 


MISCELLANY AND MorALs 


APPENDIX—ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS IN EACH FIELD OF CREATIVE ErrortT. 


CONTENTS 


IFT AROMEP INN A AARIMMUN IE eco’ ano ABB Had bd blot ao GM ema om + SE BCE 


Elizabeth D. Crowe 


Errort—Motor-MENTAL RHYTHMICS AS A PREPARATION...... 


Tennessee Mitchell Anderson 


EROR TEIN DALCROZE NL URY CL ElNITCS eum ni-leeeners Plein AGRE 


Lucy Duncan Hall 


EPrORDeiN e\ViEnOD ya (Meine OLDER s GHILMDREN saan se else eicis se 


Helen Goodrich 


Errort IN MELopy (THE YOUNGER CHILDREN).... ........... 


Luella Cornish 


EFFORT—DRAMATIZING MoTHER Goose RHYMES..............++ 


John Merrill 


I EPOR TREN ESIGN ase tise aie nian heya cretanineisiace taint aioe 


Katherine Clements 


JER ORO TANT DRANK IA E® JNINGO) IPYAVINGMISKE'S 4 on. boon o0 do ooMo abr eonor 
BE ROR Tend Nike CLA Vt tex ete ee Sere ee Pena oe eA voce Unt sie Py tera ariia 


Marie Claussenius 


[DAMAGED THAW Gis eye NSKO Ie aot Rema ae Ge ora ehanic Aah enor eae ee icicle 


Charles A. Kinney 


IBINROR aun Gens IMMoRENMN(ey Isao | 655 ac ao o done oceans bn orn ane 


Sarah Greenebaum 


An Editor 


The photographs in this volume were taken, with a few exceptions, 


by Charles A. Kinney. 


Copyright, 1925, Francis W. Parker School 


“NI 


“Say,” says I, “everybody up at school is talking about Happiness 
and the reasons thereof. What do you think Happiness is?” 


“Dear lad, your question is foolish,” said Cousin Ed, who is twenty- 
three. “There are no set rules for Happiness. Two people can be in the 
same environment and yet one can be happy and the other perfectly 
miserable.” 


“But what does Happiness mean to you?” 

“Tt means absolute comfort, mental, physical. When I have no 
worries and am seated in the best chair in the house Iam happy. To me 
comfort is Happiness.” 

“But Noah Webster says a 

“Hang what Noah says! How could he know what Happiness 
is, when all he did was write down a lot of words and burn the mid- 
night oil? And besides, don’t you know nobody had any good ideas 
before the twentieth century?” 





“Now you’re trying to joke. I really want your honest opinions. 
Look here, Noah probably knew more about Happiness than you do, be- 
cause he achieved something, and to create is Happiness. 

“No, lad,” said Cousin Ed, “at the moment a man finishes something, 
his joy is one of Ecstasy just like love is.” 

“But there isn’t anything in common between Love and Creation.” 

“There isn’t anything alike in an elephant and an angle worm, but 
they’re both live stock. To create something worth while, if it’s only 
a horseradish, is a kind of ecstasy.” 


—KExtract from article published in the school “‘Weekly.” 


CREATIVE EFFORT—IN WRITING 


It was not horseradishes which the cousin of Cousin Ed 
created. It was chiefly compositions of words. His bit of 
“seventeen” philosophy may contain the flavor of the unusual, but 
most of the productions cited in the following pages were written 
by children who are decidedly “average.”” And these are the merest 
fraction of the annual output of children’s writing which we may 
presume to call “creative.” 

We have arranged the compositions according to the apparent 
reasons why the children wrote. 


I 


The first group contains the poetry and prose of children whose 
imaginations had been stirred by the lives of people remote in 
history or far away from us on the earth’s surface. (The exact 
nature of the historical backgrounds which had previously been 
created is described in Studies in Education, Volume VII.) 


We look up to sky— 

Blue sky covers us, 

Sun smiles upon us, 

Sun loves us, 

We clap our hands with joy. 

We dance around the sacred oak tree. 


Second Grade when studying the Early Herdsman* 


PHEIDIPPIDES 

Pheidippides is running along the water. His heart is full of fear, 
his legs are tired, he is weak, he falls down beside the brook and shouts 
“Pan, Pan.’’ 

Pheidippides hears the sweet music of Pan’s pipe. He feels the 
rough hand on his head. He jumps up and looks around. Though Pan 
is gone he feels gay. 

Pheidippides’ heart is full of joy. His legs are strong. He runs 
along and whistles as he goes. He rushes into the gate of Athens and 
says, “Pan, the great God, is going to help us,” and all the men’s hands 
go up with joy. 

Georgette T., Fourth Grade 


*See article, ‘Creative Effort in the Morning Exercise.” 


8 CREATIVE EFFORT 


A SONG TO THE GODS 


Dear gods on high, 
The Greeks shout 
A song of thanks. 
We have won a great battle. 
We sing to thee for praise, 
Gods on high that watched the great battle, 
Who saw the Persian oars crash together and break, 
You who saw the boats turn over, 
We, the proud who won the mighty kattle, 
Dear gods on high, 
We sing a song of praise. 
Georgette T., Fourth Grade 


VICTORY SONG TO THE GODS 


Oh thanks be to Neptune who hast sent storms to wreck the Persian 
ships. Oh thanks be to all the gods of Olympus. 

We sing this song to thee, Oh gods of our dear Greece. 

Athene gave us wisdom. That we know, or we should not have even 
this victory. 

Apollo gave us joy, light, happiness, and health, 

Above all Zeus gave us our dear Greece that we may love and care 
for her always. 

Victory, victory, victory to the gods. 

Ruth K., Fourth Grade 


Oh Apollo, the Lord of the Silver Bow, who driveth the chariot of 
the sun, ’tis you who maketh light and happiness; ’tis Leto who openeth 
the golden curtains for you to go out. Your horses await you. They 
draw your wonderful chariot for you and leap through the air. 


Margery H., Fourth Grade 


A SONG TO PAN 


Pan is a great god. 

He has tiny horns 

And goat’s hoofs. 

He makes music on reeds. 
It sounds like 

A ripple of water. 


He has a bearded face 

And likes to wade in the brook. 
He splashes and paddles 

Till the water is muddy, 

And has a joyous time. 


Dorothy K., Fourth Grade 


IN WRITING 


WHAT A.SLAVE SAID IN THE MARKET PLACE OF TYRE 
TO A BIRD IN A CAGE 


Oh, you my fellow prisoner, 
Wish for your home as I do, 
Wish for it, long for it, sing of it. 


In spring the mountain is waiting for us cool and green, 
The dark, deep pool is waiting for us. 


I only want to see the trees, the birds, the flowers. 
But what can we do, only poor prisoners? 
Wish for it, long for it, sing for it. 
Suzanne S., Fifth Grade 


MOUNT LEBANON 

High up on Mount Labanon 
The cedars are growing tall. 
Then the men with their axes come 
And chop them till they fall. 
The fir trees with their wide branches 
Are swaying to and fro. 
They never think that some day they all will go 
To Egypt, Syria, and other far away lands. 
Do they know they might be part of a great temple some day 
In places very far away? 

Florine G., Fifth Grade 


MOUNT LEBANON 
I love to be on Mt. Lebanon 
And chop the frosty cedars. 
I love to swing my heavy axe 
And watch the trees crash down. 
I love to roll them to the stream 
And slide them to the town. 

Nixon de T., Fifth Grade 


A CARAVAN 
Look, here comes a caravan, 
Gliding through the great billows of the sand desert. 
See the goats, oxen, donkeys, and camels coming along. 
Just look at those camels, those big two-humped dromedaries. 
How gracefully they carry their great bodies, 
Jogging from side to side, 
Till at last the train is but a speck on the desert. 

Harry D., Fifth Grade 


10 


CREATIVE, EFFORT 


PHOENICIA 


See the white-capped top of Lebanon 
With its forests grand. 

The fir trees and cedar trees 

Are solemn as they stand. 


In the market place of Tyre 
Men work like busy bees. 

The market place of Tyre, 
Is the market of the seas. 


The vessels of Phoenicia, 
The seagull’s screaming cry, 
A trading vessel’s sailors 
See these things as they go by. 
James L., Fifth Grade 


THE WAVERUNNER 


Over the waves it ran. 
Keeping time to the beating of water, 
The Waverunner skimmed the water so blue. 
The Waverunner fought many battles. 
The Waverunner skimmed the water, 
The waters so blue. 
Betty C., Fifth Grade 


PIONEER’S ADVENTURES 


Beyond the Alleghanies 

Where many a man had failed 

To find the great unknown, 

I longed to wander forth. 

So I ventured toward them, 

Tramping wearily over the mountains, 

Searching through the primeval forests, 

Wading through the merry streams. 

Plentiful was the game in the forest, 

Plentiful were the fish in the stream, 

And many the fowl in the air. 

Then I sought myself a site 

To build me a shelter. 

I came upon a little upraised land 

With trees grown thickly upon it. 

I at once set to work 

To clear a little opening, 

And with the logs I cut 

I erected a little shelter, 

And thus I found my longed-for land. 
John M., Sixth Grade 


IN WRITING iT 


DESCRIPTION OF AN INDIAN 


In a remote place in the forest there stood an Indian. A man un- 
trained in the art of observation could not have distinguished his dark 
skin from the drab-colored forest behind him. Suddenly a hoot like that 
of an owl was heard. The Indian did not stir. His black eyes remained 
as they were. Then he dropped softly to the earth and one could see 
his mouth set in a grim smile. He disappeared in the bush, wriggling 
so little that the muscles in his bare arm scarcely moved. A minute later 
when the enemy appeared there was not a torn leaf or a displaced 
branch to show that anyone had been there. 


Robert W., Sixth Grade 


THE EXPLORER 


During the dark gray days of fall 
I sit by the fire and wonder 

If the lands I seem to see behind mountains 
Are true, or if they are my dreams. 


At night when I am in bed adreaming 
I seem to see myself travelling 

Over thin, old, rugged paths 
Which lead into the great unknown, 


Eventually I wandered over the purple-headed mountain, 
And came to the great wide plains below. 

There to my astonishment were many herds of buffalo feeding. 
I knew at first sight this was the land of my dreams. 


Peter L., Sixth Grade. 


THE LAND OF THE SUNSET 


Down the long gray aisles of the forest, 
Over grassy plain and marshy hollow, 

Far away over the blue distant hills, 
Stretching on toward the land of the sunset, 
A lone hunter picked his pathless way. 


Virginia McG., Sixth Grade 


In the days when man was nothing more than a great ape, Shah the 
mighty Mastodon roamed the plains of Northern Europe. Many were 
the times that Shah had fought battles with other wild beasts, till now 
he was king of all animals except Gon, the fiercest and wickedest of the 
animal world; for none cared to give battle to the terrible Saber-Toothed 
Tiger. But it came to pass one day that Hib, youngest of the herd, 
whose tusks were just beginning to show, had been slain by the terrible 
Gon. Then Shah rose in his wrath and told the best of his warriors to 
sharpen their tusks. Many trees were scraped of their bark, for every 


12 CREATIVE’ ERFORT 


Mastodon that could fight sharpened his tusks. That night a council was 
held, and Shah told them that each should swear to hunt for and to try 
to slay the wicked Gon. So with loud trumpetings they swore a great 
oath that should any not do his utmost to slay Gon then he should die. 
Then they parted, each going his own way. And it came to pass that 
Shah went to the East to ask of Kee, the wisest of apes, what would 
be the best course to follow so as to find and slay the wicked Gon. Kee 
told him that Gon had a lair a thousand and ten leaps away on the right 
of the bright tusk of Shah; also he told him that Gon was very wary 
and it would be hard to catch him napping. Merning came, and Shah 
challenged Gon to fight. 

Then Gon came from his lair, and they fought long and hard; first 
Gon would spring and then Shah would nearly crush him. So the fight 
went on till the sun rose high in the heavens, when Gon, gathering all 
his strength, made one last desperate spring and landed full on Shah’s 
back. It seemed that Shah would hardly live to see the light of another 
sunrise, when with a mighty effort he swept Gon off his back by running 
under a tree. Thus the terror of the brave as well as the cowardly lay at 
his teet. He made short work of Gon by merely stamping one great 
foot on him. 


Shah lived to an old age, and even to this day his memory is held 
sacred by animal folks the land over. 


Joseph K., Seventh Grade 


BROTHERHOOD 
England, 1381 
Scene I. An Inn 

(At right a table and two benches. At left, back, a sideboard upon 
which are numerous tankards and pewter plates. Several peasants 
lounging about, drinking ale. Enter soldier. Strides across to table 
where Diccon sits.) 

Soldier—A mug of good English ale, mine host. 

Diccon (shouts to Bess, the innkeeper’s wife)—Art there, old Bess? 

Soldier—These ten long years have I been fighting in France, and 
pouring their thin wine down my gullet, but I have not forgot the smack 
of good October ale. (Bess brings ale to Diccon and soldier. They 
touch tankards and drink.) That’s the right taste, is it not, brother? 
Ah, ye lucky Englishmen, with your good beer and good beef! Little ye 
know of starving, of beatings, of jails. ’Tis the down-trodden dogs of 
France that know hardships. (Peasants, astonished and angry at this 
speech, leap to their feet and protest.) 

Wat—Lucky! 

Will—Hardships! 

Jock—Work, work, work! Boon work, week’s work, fines! 

Wat—Little wot you what we must bear, tied to our land like dogs! 


IN WRITING ue 


Bess (in the tone of a person who is always laughed at)—And the 
ropes cut deep, too. 

Ralph (striding forward)—I tell you, we will not stand it many days 
longer. We will cut the bonds that bind us to the land, and every man 
will be free. 


(Enter young maiden, pale, ragged, starving.) 


Maiden—Mistress Bess, where is she? 

Bess—Here I be. What wilt have? 

Maiden—Pray, good Bess, a cup of ale. (Jock, pitingly, gives maiden 
a piece of money. Bess gets ale and the maiden goes on.) We could 
buy both bread and ale, had not our last penny been spent for the poll 
tax. (Exit maiden, courtesying.) 

Bess (to soldier in a scornful tone)—Ah, we lucky Englishmen. 

Jock—An we had no wrongs, why, thinkest thou, should we flock 
ie hear the words of John Ball? 

Soldier (scornfully rising)—John Ball, John Ball! Who then is this 
John Ball of whom the very babes chatter? North and south through the 
countryside, villein and freemen alike prate ever of John Ball. 

Jock (with indignation)—Who is John Ball, sayest thou? Who then 
art thou that knowest him not? These twenty years hath John Ball 
gone about, stirring up the men of Kent and Sussex. 

Bess (mockingly)—Aye, the pestilent priest! Let but the Abbot 
lay hands on him and he will rot in a dungeon. 

Ralph (fiercely)—Ret in a dungeon! Not while ten thousand stout- 
hearted Englishmen can batter down iron-bound gates. 

Wat (strides toward soldier and speaks in fierce tone)—Before the 
new moon, even the nobles will know of John Ball. 

George (during this speech to soldier, others nod their assent)—Aye, 
the nobles! No more will they sit idling away their time in useless lux- 
ury. All men are equal, saith John Ball. Is this the will of God, to 
have some men toil day after day, and eat black bread and herd in ken- 
nels, while he who sitteth at ease in lordly manor house or monastery is 
a parasite on his own wretched brethren? 

Soldier (rising and speaking with a sneer)—And why, my good 
friends, do ye sit here idly drinking ale, and gossiping like old women? 
Why not up and to arms? 

Will—Up and to arms, sayest thou? At the word of John Ball 
we shall be up. We shall march to London. No man will dare oppose 
us, nay, not even the nobles, because the King will be our leader. 

All (with enthusiasm)—Aye, the King! 

Diccon (with the manner of the habitual jester)—The king, the 
king! Doth he ever think of us? No, the King is like to a weather 
cock; whichever way the wind bloweth, with that side will he go. 
(Laughter.) 

Bess—Aye, Diccon, and there be thy chance. Ye man must see to 
it that the wind bloweth your way. 


14 CREATIVE) EFFORT 


(Enter bailiff. Serfs take refuge in corners.) 


Bailiff (brutally)—Silence! What do all ye lazy serfs here? Away, 
every man to his patch of land! 

Jock (to soldier, in a terrified tone)—’Tis the bailiff! 

Lawyer (coming out from corner. Peasants look at him with hatred. 
Their hating and longing for revenge increase as he speaks)—Aye, 
bailiff, in good time hast thou come. These ignorant hounds here are 
planning a rising against their masters. They are thinking ta burn and 
plunder the manors. They expect to march to London and see John of 
Gauni flee in terror at the sight of a few serfs. 

Bess Gn lawyer’s ear)—Aye, old cackle-throat! 

Bailiff—Do ye serfs, ye villeins, ye breakers of the law, think that 
ye can start a rising? Ye crawling, cringing vermin! Bah! Your great 
rising will melt like snow before the sun. 

Messenger (outside)—Is the bailiff within? (Enter messenger 
breathless.) 

Bailiff—W ell, what’s to do? 

Messenger—I come to tell thee that Peter, who ran from the land 
two moons since, on Lammas Eve, has been taken. (Serfs fall back in 
despair.) 

Bailiff (savagely)—Two moons—sixty days—sixty lashes on Peters 
bare back! Gape at Peter an hour hence, where he sitteth with bleed- 
ing back in the stocks! Can such as he and ye put down the mighty 
golden nobles? (To the lawyer) Do thou, sir man at law, bide here. 
Shortly I return. I shall need thee to show Peter’s serfage. Stay, take 
thou this pouch. (Hands pouch to lawyer.) ’Tis the money from the 
court fines. Make a careful accounting in a fair hand against my return. 
And ye, lazy wretches, back to your fields! Idle here no longer! See 
to it that I find you not again at your silly plots. (Exit bailiff. Lawyer 
attempts to follow him.) 

Bess—Aye, all of you go. Out of door with you. (Peasants and 
Bess jostle lawyer and prevent his exit. Serfs jerk him around from one 
to the other.) 

Lawyer (in a panic)—I will with thee, sir bailiff, an it please thee. 
Get ye home, villeins! ’Tis bailiff’s orders. (Peasants hold him back, 
and door closes on bailiff.) 

Will—Art afraid, friend? 

Ralph—Nay, stay thou here. “Tis bailiff’s orders. Spy? 

Wat (fiercely)—Now, there babbler, thou tell-tale! We have thee. 
Thou hast tied a rope around thine own neck, using thy learning against 
brave Peter. 

Diccon (mockingly measures lawyer’s neck with his fingers)—’Tis 
a very short neck. Let us stretch it. 

Jock—Aye, a lawyer! Cause of all the evil which has come upon us. 

Bess—Aye, my fine speaker, my fine writer! He fain would speak. 
He will prove by parchment that he is no foe of the people. (Ralph 


IN WRITING 15 


puts rope around lawyer’s neck and starts to drag him out. Will leaps 
forward. Shouts maliciously.) 

Will—Drag no man to the gallows without a trial. A court! Let us 
hold a court. I be bailiff. QCWill jumps on a table. Diccon snatches 
lawyer’s hood, huddles it about his own neck, and leaps on bench beside 
table.) 

Diccon—I be lawyer. 

Wat (dragging lawyer before mock bailiff)—His son married a lass 
he loved. 

Diccon—Five groats. 

(Wat wrests money from lawyer, who struggles frantically to 
retain it. Wat gleefully counts his money. Malicious laughter. Peas- 
ants in turn come forward with mock accusations and snatch money 
from terrified lawyer.) 

Jock—He ground not his wheat at the lord’s mill. 

Diccon—tThree groats. 

Bess—He brought no fowl at Yuletide. 

Diccon—Six groats. 

Ralph—He sent no cart to the haying. 

Diccon—All he has left! 

Lawyer (in deadly fright)—O good people, pray, pray, do not take 
the bailiff’s gold! I were but a dead man an I lost it. Give me back 
my gold, my pouch! 

Will (with scorn)—Thy pouch! 

Jock—Thy gold. Thou meanest our gold. 

George (During this speech peasants one by one become ashamed 
each and restores money to pouch)—Peace, ’tis enough. Give back his 
filthy money. ’Twas wrung from us penny by penny while the lord 
wrought not at all. All men should share earth’s burdens, saith John 
Ball, and earth’s wealth. But he saith not that we shall take money, as 
if we were robbers. ’Tis justice we want, not plunder. An we stand, 
every man, by the fellowship, we shall be free men. Is not that better 
than gold? Will ye not give it back brothers? Wilt not thou, Wat? 

Wat (grudgingly stepping forward and dropping money into pouch) 
—Aye, though I need it sore. 

Ralph—Aye. 

Jock—Aye, though Bess wants it for the ale I drank. 

Bess—Hear the pretty pennies clink! (Church bell sounds.) 

All—John Ball hath rung our bell! (Exeunt, calling and shouting.) 


Scene II. In Market Place 


(On the left a market cross. Jack Straw standing on the step. On 
the right a pair of stocks, with Peter in them. One hears the chanting 
of the peasants.) 

Peasants (outside)—When Adam delved and Eve span, 

Who was then a gentleman? 
(They enter noisily.) 


16 CREATIVE EFFORT 


Wat (seeing Jack Straw and turning to the others)—’Tis not John 
Ball. Who is this? 

Diccon (coming forward and gazing impudently at Jack Straw)— 
Mark the wisp of straw in his cap. Ho, there, Jack Straw! 

Ralph—Jack Straw, what dost thou here? 

Jock—'Tis John Ball doth ring our bell? Where is the priest? 

Jack Straw (at his words peasants shrink back in dismay, shaking 
their heads)—From John Ball am I come. This very day must we rise. 
Many a year have we talked of a rising. This word of John Ball shall 
stir borough and shire. Come, brothers, be ye ready now, to-day? 
Will ye take bills and bows and march to London? Will ye leave plow 
in furrow and ax in tree? Will ye risk life for the fellowship? An 
ye will, follow me. Up to the steps of the cross! Wilt come thou? 

Wat—I? Nay, not I. Who will care for my three swine? 

Jack Straw—Then thou. 

Will—Leave my plow to rust and my corn to rot? Let others go. 

Jock—Wait till the oats are ripe and the barley reaped. 

A Woman—My man must to the mill with the grain, that I may 
make the week’s bread. 

Diccon—Who will cut firewood for the winter? 

Second Woman—Who knoweth that they will ever return! Will ye 
leave your babes to die of hunger, while your bodies dangle from John 
of Gaunt’s gibbets? 

Soldier (aside)—These be Englishmen, and yet crayens. 

George (pleadingly )—Oh, brothers, brothers, hold not back. The 
hour has struck. If not now, when? Ever will ye have babes to leave, 
fields to till, and corn to grind. Say that I swing on the gibbet, or thou? 
An we win freedom for England, what is my life or thine? Did ye think 
that John Ball alone could set every villein free? Ye have been prating 
these long years of your wrongs. Now, up and strike for freedom. 

Jack Straw—All England riseth. Will ye alone bide here, while all 
the folks of Essex and Sussex, Norfolk and Suffolk and Kent, march on 
London? Shall they fight for your freedom? Ye were the first to 
cry for justice. Will ye be the last to rise? Come, all ye men of the 
fellowship, and follow me. 

George (from the steps of the cross)—Shame! shame on a cowardly 
folk! An ye be so weak, I alone will go with Jack Straw. 

Soldier (strides over to the market cross)—And I with thee, comrade. 

George—Come thou, too. Ralph. 

Ralph—Nay, without a leader? Where is John Ball? 

Jack Straw—He lieth in Maidstone Jail! (Fierce wrath among the 
peasants.) Hear ye his message! 

Peasants—The message! Read the message! 

Jack Straw (reads)—John Ball, sometimes St. Mary’s priest of York, 
greeteth well John Nameless, John Miller and John Carter. 


IN WRITING 17 


George—Aye, every man of us John Ball greeteth well. (Peasants 
assent.) 


Jack Straw—and biddeth them beware of guile in borough, and stand 
together in God’s name, and biddeth Piere Plowman go to work, and 
chastise well Hob the Robber—(Growl of wrath from the peasants.) 


Ralph—Truly, Hob the Robber. 

Wat—’Tis the King’s treasurer he meaneth. 

Jock—’Tis he that putteth this foul poll tax upon honest folk. 

Jack Straw—and take with ye John Trueman and all his fellows, 
and no mo. 

George—We he all fellows of John Trueman, be we not brothers? 
(Peasants assent.) 

Ress—An I were a man, I had been half way to Maidstone Jail 
ere now! 

Jack Straw—And look sharp, you, to one head and no mo. 

All (with a shout)—Aye, Wat the Tyler. 

Diccon—Now is the time to batter down iron-bound gates. 

Seldier—First an ax to free Peter! (Snatches ax and batters down 
stocks.) Now on to Maidstone Jail. (They go out shouting.) 


George—If God wills it from this day, all English men shall be free 
and brotherly. 
Eighth Grade 


The two poems, the two stories, and the narrative, which 
follow, were all handed to the seventh grade teacher in answer to 
a call for contributions to the school annual, the “Record.” The 
children had been urged to choose any subject which they really 
cared to write about, with no restrictions whatever. Thirty-one 
children, out of a class of thirty-two, wrote on subjects suggested 
by historical backgrounds. These five compositions the class asked 
to have mimeographed. 


EGYPT 


Oh Egypt, now a land of ruins, 
Where is all your grandeur? 
There are no temples, no chariots, 
No soldiers returning from conquering exploits, 
No sailboats, such as were in your ancient time— 
Gone, never to come again. 
You look like a peacock, shorn of its plumage. 
Yes, your splendor is really gone. 
James L., Seventh Grade 


18 CREA DIME EE BOR] 


MOUNTAINS MADE BY MAN 


In the desert wild and free, 
Towering with majesty, 

The Sphinx of Gizeh stands. 
High upon the mountain tops— 
Mountains made by man— 
Wait the desert bands. 


Floating down the River Nile 
Sails of white go gliding by, 
Bearing on the bier on high 
The body of a king. 

Never more his golden ship— 
Dead is he and gone for aye— 


To lie in mountains, 
Mountains made by man. 
Joseph K., Seventh Grade 


THE COMING OF THE HYKSOS 


“Hark! What do we hear? Approaching thunder? It is the in- 
fernal beasts, those things with four legs that belong to those barbarians 
the Hyksos. Help! help! To the citadel! Crash! Listen to them 
battering on the gates! Ha! we are safe. Oh, woe is upon us. Look! 
they are burning the palace. Parshk is in command of us. Never let 
him be! Never! The mad priest! Throw him over the battlements. 
Sorrow be with ye, ye sons of Egypt, we are betrayed—we are betrayed! 
Help! help! Here they are. Fight to the end. S-s-s-s, listen to their 
whirling blades. I yield, I yield, mercy, mercy. We are taken.” Torches 
flash on the shining metal. ‘Oh Ashmur, my friend, that is all I re- 
member of the downfall of our last stronghold.” 

Joseph K., Seventh Grade 


THE HUNT AND A NEW LEADER 


Our tribe lives in a great forest surrounded by high mountains. My 
name is Shahl, my father’s rame is Sahb, and my mother’s name is Gidah. 

For a week our tribe had gone to sleep, to waken and find one of us 
missing. Who was the thief after human flesh? Why did he seek our 
tribe and kill at night? He, whoever he was, was a coward! 

One night I was awakened by the cracking of a twig outside our 
cave. Two green eyes appeared, and in the moonlight I saw the stripes 
of a tiger. A saber tooth. His fangs glistened. He was the robber of 
our tribe. 

I jumped to my feet and gave a cry of alarm. The tiger was undis- 
turbed, but he gave a fierce growl. Our tribe grabbed the spears and 


IN WRITING . 


axes. My father sprang in front of the tiger and hurled his spear, but 
the tiger leaped aside and the spear only wounded him. 

Now, a wounded tiger is far more dangerous than one that is not. 
The wound smarts and enrages the beast. The tiger sprang at my father 
in a vain effort to tear him to pieces. Being used to quick action, my 
father sprang lightly aside and the beast fell harmlessly to the ground. 
He gave a roar of pain and limped from the cave. Our tribe followed 
him to his lair, and there to our horror we saw the half eaten and dis- 
figured bodies of our tribesmen. The tiger, however did not stop but 
leaped over a rock and disappeared in the forest. 

By striking flint we made a fire in which we cremated our dead and 
we then started on the hunt for the saber tooth. 

We sharpened our spears and made ready for the signai to start. 
Some of us went in one direction while the rest of our party went in a 
different one, forming the point of a spear—thus /\. For three days 
we walked or hunted when, on the evening of the fourth day we heard the 
cries of our other party and the fierce roar of the tiger. We ran in 
the direction from which the cries came. 

We saw our comrades on a cliff, trying to roll a huge rock on the 
beast, but the tiger would not come near enough. With our spears 
raised, we charged the beast and tried to back him up against the cliff 
over which the rock was placed. We did so, and as our brothers on the 
cliff tried to push the rock over the edge they loosened a small stone 
which fell and struck the tiger’s left ear. He shied and jumped to one 
side as the big rock was pushed over the cliff. It missed him and crashed 
to earth in a hundred pieces. 

I was at the time nearest to the tiger and almost mechanically I 
raised my spear and hurled it at him. The spear was hurled with not 
much force, because I was only sixteen years of age, but it did plenty 
of harm. The tiger could not rise, so I with my axe stunned him with a 
blow upon the head and my father killed him. 

That night there was a jolly fire in our cave. I was stretched out on 
a tiger skin eating a piece of tiger flesh. Oh but it was good. All our 
tribe was feasting on the thief instead of his feasting on us. 

My father rose from his seat. As he rose a silence fell over the 
tribe. His eyes gazed upon each member thoughtfully and finally his 
gaze fell upon me. He said, “Shahl, my son, thou hast been brave this 
day. For your bravery you deserve some prize or honor. I have and 
know of only one.” He paused, he looked at the tribe, and again at me. 
“Son, this is your prize.” He looked at the rest and said, ‘“Sahb, father 
of this hero Shahl, is old, he is no longer the wonder with his spear. As 
leader of this tribe I, Sahb, give my place to my son, Shahl.” He took 
me and held me up saying, “Behold your new leader.” 

That ends my tale of the hunt of the saber-tooth tiger and how I 
became leader of our tribe. 

James I., Seventh Grade 


20 CREATIVE EFFORT 


PROGRESS OF MAN 


Do we any of us realize how old our civilization is, or how it would 
be if we went back to when man was only beginning his development? 
What would we think if we were to see half-beast and half-man creatures 
dressed in skins and babbling in their own peculiar tongue? Let us 
imagine ourselves watching a play entitled “The Progress of Man,” but 
remember the actors are unaware that we are watching. 


First Scene 
The Earliest Man, or the Beginning ef Man 


See the dense forests and the huge and queer animals! See the 
fire; over there, queer ape-like men are hovering around it; they are 
babbling over it; they feel the heat and are unconsciously making their 
brains work. Don’t you always wonder over new things? There is a 
roar, the babbling stops; in the silence they are thinking; as a result of 
their thoughts they get up and pile more wood on the fire—for they 
are just beginning to understand the animals’ fear of fire. 


Second Scene 
Centuries Later When Many Happenings Have Caused This Ape-Like 


Man to Think 
This scene shows the same dense forests, but instead of the men 
squatting around a fire and in crude brush shelters there are villages 
out in a little lake with rafts to get back to the mainland. These lake 
dwellers have also learned to make cloth, for they no longer wear skins 
but have woven clothes. 


Third Scene 
The Land of Egypt, Much Developed for Its Time 


Here we see great kings in beautiful stone temples with brilliantly 
colored carvings on their walls. One king is seated in a golden chair 
studded with precious stones. Hiss robe is made of “woven gold;” it is 
beautifully planned and could have been done only by skillful weavers. 
There is a man kneeling before the king and he is told to rise. The 
king speaks to him. “I understand you have a chariot which rides in 
water without being pulled.” The man answers, “Yes, your majesty.” 
The king answers, “Explain it. We have found our floating trees* quite 
satisfactory for hauling stone down the river.” The man replies, “Your 
majesty, my father is and has been since I was a small boy, a raftsman 
hauling huge blocks of stone across the Nile to your great pyramid. I 
as a boy used to lie in the prow of the raft and watch the little craft 
push its way through the water. I also compared it with my own and 
a duck’s swimming; a duck seems to have a pointed front that cuts the 
water better, and I keep my fingers together when swimming. Thus I 
have found I can swim more easily and more swiftly. According to this 
I have made a boat with a different shape from any you or anyone else 
has seen today. It is waiting outside if your majesty would care to look 
it over.” And that is how the first crude sailboat came to be. 

*Log rafts 


IN WRITING 7a 


This period ends the great progression period, and the countries that 
followed were just ones whom you might call telling people, but these 
early people whom I have just shown to you were the real people who 
had to find things out without being told. 


Eleanor W., Seventh Grade 


II 


Every year on May Day the school’s chosen Queen receives 
in her court poets and musicians who recite and sing in her honor. 
Those whom she deems most worthy—and often there are many 
of them—receive a flower or wreath as a mark of her favor. Here 
follow some of the poems which have seemed to possess merit. 


SPRING 


The May Queen sits on her throne. 

She is glad that the spring has come. 

May Queen, listen to our story: 

The sun shines bright in the spring. 

The sky is blue, 

The warm winds blow. 

The snow goes away. 

The rain comes down softly. 

All the trees and flowers come back to life. 
The May flowers bloom. 


The trees have buds. 

The grass is green 

The butterflies are flying. 

The robins sing: 

They build their nests. 

The blue birds come back. 

Ants build their houses. 

Bees suck honey out of the flowers. 

Hornets build their nests. 

And the sun looks down on happy children. 
The First Grade Children 


This morning a robin awoke me 
With his song, so bright and clear, 
And while I was listening to him, 
I knew that spring was here. 
Ursula K., Second Grade 


(This poem was set to music.) 


CREATIVE EFFORT 


Oh lovely mountain, 
With winter at your head, 
Springtime at your waist, 
And summer at your feet— 
Oh lovely mountain. 
Harrington P., Fourth Grade 


I saw the prettiest sight 
From my window on a train— 
I saw the fruit trees all in bloom, 
And yellow daffodils, 
The weeping willows all in bud, 
That look like pepper trees. 
The sun was setting in the west. 
Beyond the pinkish hills, 
A little, trickling brook there was, 
A-going in and out, 

Herbert S., Fourth Grade 


POEM 


Straight and tall the poplars grow 
Even to my window high. 
Stretching from the earth below 
Every branch desires the sky. 
Roger S., Fourth Grade 


SCILLA 


A carpet of blue 

Mixed in with green, 

The yellow green 

Of tulip sprouts— 

Among the scilla 

And tulip sprouts 

I could not see 

The dark brown earth. 

The fairy’s ballroom 

Could not ke 

More beautiful than that. 
Jane T., Fourth Grade 


DANDELIONS 


See, the glowing sunshine 
Turns dandelions gold. 
They are fairy platters 
In the grass so green. 
Margery H., Fourth Grade 


IN WRITING 


A GARDEN 
I have seen a garden in full bloom, 
With solid grass around the beds of 
yellow, blue, and red. 
The flowers’ heads were kobbing there. 
A breeze ran round about. 
Jane B., Fourth Grade 


THE BLUET 


The bluet stands all day 
Bathing in the sun, 
Watching the tall grass waves 
And the trees bowing down to them. 
Jerome W., Fifth Grade 


I 


The golden sunlight filled the room, 
The golden sun of May, 

Carrying the breath of Spring 

To all that sleeping lay. 


II 


To purple violets slumbering 
In a china bowl 

A message from a distant wood 
From brothers on a knoll. 


Ill 


A message of good cheer it brought, 
Of love and hope and May, 
To cheer imprisoned violets 
That sweetly sleeping lay. 
Marjorie S., Eighth Grade 


In the spring, in my heart 

I can hear river waters 
Rushing and babbling, to part 

At some stone in the flow. 
I can see green moss clinging 

And ferns bending over, 
And the snake grass spring 

In slow, shallow places. 
The yellow water lily 

Is blossoming once more 
And the mud-turtle wakens 

And scrambles to shore. 

Janet B., Eighth Grade 


23 


24 


CREATIVE EFFORT 


The wheel of time steadily winds, 

Turning the mill of all living things, 

Each spoke a season, changing our world: 

The warm summer’s weather, the falling leaves, 

The snow and ice, and a sun to rise 

On a wonderful season, ever new and inspiring 

To all peoples in the cycles of time gone by. 

Each time the great wheel rounds to spring, 

New hopes and joys are born in the hearts of those that live. 
The tree senses it, loosens its crust-like bark, 

Releasing new buds from their sheltering prison. 

The bird feels it, building his nest 

And singing his Springtime song. 

The beast knows it, seeking fresh pastures of new grass. 
And man senses it, feels it, and knows it 


In his soul. 
Betty H., High Schee: 


A CITY SPRING 
Morning— 

The air no longer a stinging lash 
That cuts ene’s face, 
But warm and drowsy. 
Things wake from their night’s sleep 
And with half open eyes 
Turn their heads to the warm sun. 


Sunset— 
Enchanted air, 
Low descending sun, now a crimson ball, 
Now flaming in a thousand colors 
Filling all the sky, 
Now fading slowly, softly, 
Behind tall buildings and newly budded trees, 
Now gone. The night is born 
In soft gray; 
Now it deepens, and the stars appear. 


The city sleeps. 
Romola S., High School 


I wish I was a cloud 

With the bright sun on my crumpled white hair 

And my face down toward the green earth, 

To loll and roll lazily in the cool blue, 

And stretch my lacy body in the comfortable universe. 
Allan B., High School 


IN WRITING Lo 


III 

The school publishes an annual, “The Record,” to record the 
experiences of the entire school each year. An editorial staff com- 
posed of the older children “makes” the book—no small experi- 
ence in creation—but every grade contributes at least a page. There 
is a “literary section” representing the efforts of children of all 
ages. There are opportunities for the publication of much miscel- 
laneous material. English teachers allow many of these contribu- 
tions to be handed in to English classes for criticism; and of course 
some of the more “literary” attempts were made primarily for their 
own sake, and the result handed to the Record staff only on second 
thought. But in the main the Record furnished the motive for 
writing what follows. 

The Fourth Grade Pages in One Year’s Record 
A GREEK SCHOOL 

Ariston, sitting on one of the stone benches that lined the walls of 
the school room, saw in the courtyard the bronze tip of Athene’s hel- 
met. The fragrance of the oleanders and roses, and the beauty of the 


palms shading the white marble columns, seemed to guide his stylus, as 
he wrote on his waxed tablet these prayers: 


TO ATHENE 
O, Athene, Goddess of the golden shield, 
And Goddess of Wisdom, hear me. 
Give me power to fulfill what I have undertaken. 
Guide my steps, that I may come back to all my friends. 
If ever I have done anything to honor thy name, 
Fulfill my wish. 
Let me do all I can to help my country. 
May you guide my steps back to safety. 


ACHILLES’ PRAYER TO ZEUS 
O, great Zeus, Lord of the Thunderbolt, 
Cloud-gatherer, Father of Apollo, 
Brother of earth-shaking Poseidon, 
Son of Cronus, 
O, thou mighty one, give ear and hearken to my prayer. 
Thou, who art father of men and gods, 
Thou eatest ambrosia and drinkest of nectar. 
I have built temples to uphold thy righteous name. 
I have burnt fat cattle to thee in sacrifices. 
If all this hath pleased thee, 
Fulfill my desire. 
Save Patroclus from all harm and danger, 
And send him back to me crowned with victory. 


26 CREATIVE EFFORT 


CHRYSES’ PRAYER TO APOLLO 


O, Apollo, Lord of the Silver Bow, 

God of the Sun, and son of Zeus, 

Loved by your friends and feared by your enemies, 

Thou who are counted among the greatest of the Immortals, hear me. 
I have built temples for thee to rest in. 

I have burnt sacrifices to make thee strong. 

I pray thee to grant that my former offerings please thee, 

So thou canst hearken to this, my earnest prayer. 

Let thy terrible arrows come upon the Greeks who took my daughter. 
Let them suffer as I suffer, for dear Chryses. 


The gong sounded, and the boys filed out to the gymnasium. They 
divided into groups. Some boys were jumping, others throwing the 
discus and spear; still others were wrestling and boxing. 


So busy was Ariston, playing the lyre and putting his prayers to 
music, that he heeded not the gong and forgot his companions, until the 
master entered. “Ariston,” he called, “Why art thou not with thy com- 
panions in the gymnasium? Go thou quickly and exercise thy legs on 
the running track.” 


At the end of the hour, the boys ran shouting and laughing into the 
court, eager for lunch, after their strenuous exercise. As he munched 
the cooling purple grapes, Ariston breathed a prayer to Dionysos. 


HYMN TO DIONYSOS 


Dionysos, Dionysos, all praise to thee, 
Your fruits and vineyards we all do see. 
Rocked in a corner of the sky, 
You as a youth did lie. 
Hail! Hail! to thee, Dionysos. 


Zeus, your father, mighty and strong, 
Gave unto Hermes you, a lover of song. 
To Mount Nysa he bade him fly, 
There you were sheltered in a cave near by. 
Fair-haired nymphs for you did care, 
Silenos and Satyrs each had a share. 
Out into the world you finally strayed, 
To teach all people the things you made. 


Lesson followed lesson—counting, reciting, modeling, painting, chant- 
ing ended the day’s work. Ariston hurried to meet his father, who was 
waiting in the court for him, very thankful that he had escaped that day 
having his knuckles thumped. 


IN WRITING 27 


A pool of water, in the city’s streets at night, 
Bathed and stilled, in the moon’s soft, silvery light— 
Opaque and muddy through the long work-a-day, 
Now clear and shining, with the fairies at play— 


Shallow and ugly, sun glaring bright, 

Transformed, deep and beautiful, by the magic of night. 
The beams glance and glimmer on the surface at will. 
The pool rests in glory, peaceful and still. 


Then Lord, we, thy children, do ask thee this boon: 
Reveal more of thy wonders, as the pool and the moon. 


Barrett C., High School 


ON BEING AN UNCLE TO A NEPHEW 


I was visiting my six-months-old nephew, and after two days of 
said visit I became fully convinced that uncles are more to be pitied 
than envied. I did not feel any pride in the realization that I was 
gazing upon the first human being who would have to prefix a title to 
my name whenever he addressed me. Neither was my hair beginning 
to turn gray, nor were my shoulders beginning to sag, because of the 
grave and weighty responsibility that had been thrust upon me when the 
creature first saw the light of day. 

When I first met the youngster the usual form of introduction was 
dispensed with, owing to mutual agreement of all concerned, the reasons 
being that the child was not quite old enough to acknowledge my saluta- 
tion according to the proper method stated in the book of etiquette, and 
that he might break out with some uncalled-for remark to the effect 
that I greatly resembled the picture of the cow on the wall. What the 
kid was actually thinking about I cannot say. Perhaps he and I were 
both thinking of the same thing: when was the next meal to be an- 
nounced? 

My first impression of the child was that he must grow a beard as 
quickly as possible on the top of his head, as he could never be a hand- 
some bald man, owing to the irregular shape and rough topography of 
the upper section of his skull. My next thought was that he resembled 
a Chinaman. However, when his grandfather asked me if the little fel- 
low didn’t look like him, I politely said he did, and added that I thought 
the kid possessed an extremely homely mouth. I learned later that the 
mouth shaped like his is termed a Cupid’s bow. 

I drew the wrath of the mother when I innocently said that I thought 
the baby had hair and teeth like his mother. I had forgotten that the 
baby was still but six months old. 

The only person with whom I could frankly discuss the little fellow 
was the kid himself. When I would start to tell him about the noble 
things I had done as a child, my young nephew would probably applaud 


28 CREATIV B&B) EFFORT 


my actions by falling asleep. Then, in order to relieve my feeling of 
hurt indignation, his mother would rush in and explain that he was tired, 
since he had had no sleep for nearly an hour. When I tried to amuse 
him, he began to cry. Once, however, I did manage to snatch some 
smiles from him, and asked him if he didn’t think I would make a good 
comedian. Seeming to comprehend my question in the same manner that 
a dog does, he answered it by repeatedly poking my nose. I sternly 
told the youngster that if he were my size, I should challenge him te 
combat for such an insult. 

There was one thing about my visit that restored my faith in human 
nature, and convinced me that the younger generation were not actually 
going to the dogs, but were instead really following in the footsteps 
of their elders. This thought was brought forth after viewing the in- 
fant’s bath and noticing the great aversion the kid had for soap and 
water externally applied. I came away with a happy feeling that, after 
all, the boy was a chip off the old block on his uncle’s side. 

Jack C., High School 


APRIL 
April, lovely child in soft, wet rags, 
With tears glist’ning on thy tender cheek, 
And eyes like calm, still pools, 
Fringed about 
With dark, dew-spangled lashes, 
Whence cometh thou, thou winsome wench, 
Now throwing apple blossoms to the wind, 
And now 
Stopping to weep, within a soft, deep cloud. 

Jean Mac G., High School 


PINES 
Tall, stately guardians of many secrets, 
Ever wont to sigh, as if the secrets 
You held were of great and burdensome nature, 
Oh, my soothing friends of years gone by, 
What is this secret? 
William M., High School 


THE APPLE TREE 
The apple tree in blossom 
Is like a fluffy, powdered courtier 
Of olden time, 
Bowing low before his dainty lady, 
The rustling of whose skirts 
Flutters the soft petals 
He so gracefully has sprinkled in her path. 

Letitia V., High School 


IN WRITING 29 


STORM 
It is calm, but ominous clouds pass overhead. 
Not a leaf stirs nor a blade of grass moves. 
Then, like a lightning flash, 
The storm is upon us. 
The wind whistles by, 
Heedless of the trees 
As they rock to and fro in bended submission. 
The heavens open, and the ram 
Pours down upon us without mercy, 
Till the earth, restless under the lash 
Of the torrents, swallows them up, 
And laughs in triumph as the storm lifts. 
Bernard W., High School 


A WAVE 
She rushed toward the shore, 
Pushing aside the insistent waters 
As they followed close at her heels. 
She tossed her head back laughing, 
Sprang over the waters as they crushed her, 
Burst into a fountain of rainbow colors, 
Then, snatched back by the angry foams, 
Was swallowed by the inexorable sea. 

Anna P., High School 


IV 


The “Weekly” is really a news sheet, but it runs as filler 
short compositions of various kinds, and it publishes annually 
or semi-annually a literary pamphlet called “The Barnacle.” 
Children throughout the school write for these publications.* 


A WINTER SCENE, JANUARY 16 

The room was cold with the winter wind. Frost covered the win- 
dows in beautiful designs of mountains, pine trees, and forests. Out- 
side, heavy snow covered up the sleeping grass. The trees were white 
against the cold winter sky. Small snow flakes, soft and white, flittered 
through the frosty air. Not a thing moved. All were asleep. 

The snow was ever falling. Covering up the city dirt. No black 
smoke came from the lonesome chimneys that stood up like some big 
masts against the white, snow-covered city. Even the speeding auto- 
mobiles slowed down. Everything was covered with the wonderful 
blanket of snow. 

Frances §S., Fifth Grade 


*A recent editor conceived and executed the plan of writing the history of the 
Weekly, and the school published his account in pamphlet form. It can be had upon 
application at 15 cents a copy. 


30 CREATIVE EFFORT 


CHICAGO 


I 


The sun set behind a bluff as Manake slowly paddled down the shores 
of the big lake. Approaching a small stream he stopped; then as if re- 
assured he turned his canoe into the stream and continued paddling. 
On either side of the river was a marsh scarcely higher than the stream 
itself. Now and then his canoe scraped against the mud bottom or struck 
against a stump. Suddenly Manake stopped. “Chaque,’ he muttered, 
and put his hand to his nose. Then turning his birch canoe he quickly 
returned to the mouth of the river and continued his way along the shores 
of the big lake until he should find a more suitable and pleasant camping 
ground. 


II 


Early in the nineteenth century a schooner entered the small river 
that poured its lazy waters into a big lake. It was carrying provisions 
and arms for the little Indian trading post. Slowly and carefully the 
vessel crept upstream. Along the sides were small craft—ferries and 
fishermen’s boats. On the banks, too, were hundreds of Indians, grunting 
in surprise and pleasure as the big canoe with white wings came to 
anchor. On the left bank, some five or six hundred feet away, was a 
neat log cabin in front of which a white man was working, surrounded 
by a dozen or more Indians. He was the first of his race who had ever 
settled here. He was known as the Indians’ friend and helper. 


lil 


Hundreds of automobiles are whirling across the great bridge. On 
the right and left, tower skyward two huge, illuminated buildings and 
beside them two skeletons of buildings as gigantic as themselves. There 
is a roar of industry and traffic—shouts of truckmen—chugging of motors 
—clatter of elevated—rattle of street cars—roaring of overhead trains— 
shrieks of whistles. Throngs of people stream through the street. The 
air is thick with a smoky fog. Lights gleam everywhere. The river 
moves silently—away from the lake. 

John McF., High School 


A WET NIGHT 


The street lamps, foggy with rain and the observer’s blurred vision, 
flutter; the water slaps the sidewalk steadily; the thunder booms and 
rattles overhead; a train whistle raises its long, mournful hoot in the 
distance. The taxi chains rattle on the slippery asphalt, and the autos 
swish as they run down the street. Now and then a flash of lightning 
shoots a glare over the scene. The streets are almost empty and the 
lights few. It is a wet night, the night for a misanthrope or a dreamer. 


IN WRITING 31 


Across the way is a big hotel. It has a glass and metal canopy over 
the door, with many sparkling little lamps dotting its edge. The big 
negro in the blue uniform stands out against the background, for the 
glass door of the place permits the passage of much of the interior bril- 
liancy. The whole building is pointed with lights. People come out of 
it, stand for a minute, and are swallowed up and swished away in taxi- 
cabs. The doorman’s whistle pricks the stillness, auto engines groan, 
tonneau doors slam, voices, the hard ones of those accustomed to metal 
and darkness, boom out on the dank air. Then the blanket settles down 
again, unruffled by the little flurry beneath it, to be disturbed again by 
the repetition of the sounds, the hoot of the train whistle, and the pro- 
fanity of the cabby as his engine stalls. 

We pass down the side street away from the hotel. At regular in- 
tervals the street lamps glow, golden blurs on a dark gray sea. Occa- 
sionally a light is seen in an apartment window. The rain drips steadily 
from broken troughs, falling with a splashing sound as it reaches the 
ground. A car gathering speed and spewing smoke lurches down the 
street. Night sits on the town like a huge, monstrous thing. 


We pass on, hunched up, the rain beating in our face and dripping 
from our hat brim. A pipe, long since out, hangs from our mouth. Our 
hands, dirty with the grime of the day’s work, are stuffed in our over- 
coat pockets, one of them feebly protecting a folded newspaper. Our 
feet are wet with the splashings of myriads of rain drops and the water 
of many puddles. 

At last, after passing a succession of deadeningly similar apartment 
houses, we come to our little box. To the unitiated it would seem exactly 
like the rest, but to us it is different. This is a particularly important 
place. We live here. 

We enter, press a button, push open a growling door, and go into a 
stuffy, heavily carpeted hall. We climb three flights of stairs and open 
a door. The smeil of cocking meat, potatoes, and cabbage drives keenly 
into our nostrils. Ah, what a satisfying place is home! We may quarrel 
with the other inmates, we may hate to return to it, but it is there, im- 
movable, always ready for us. 

We remove our hat and coats, put on a pair of slippers, and fall 
into an easy chair to look through the paper. Scare headlines greet us. 
“War with Afghanistan Imminent!” says the streamer. Who cares? We 
are in a soft chair in an indolent mood, with a good dinner presently to 
confront us. Taxis may rattle, train whistles hoot, war with Afghanistan 
imperil the peace of the world, but we are comfortable, our soul at peace 
with the universe. We sink back into our chair, luxuriating in indolence 
and contentment. Let the old world roar on. We are at home! 

Leonard B., High School 


oe CREATIVE EFFORT 


Vv 


Last, though so very far from least, we print a miscellaneous 
group of compositions. Some of these were the unrequired efforts 
of children, brought to the teacher at odd times—as surprises by 
little children; often without comment but usually with a request 
for criticism by the older ones. Other contributions were made 
at times when a task had been assigned to write whatever each 
person most wished to write. This kind of assignment is usually 
accompanied by a definite alternative to fall back on in case one 
has no ideas. A few. pieces of prose here cited were interesting 
applications of fairly definite assignments, although in general we 
try not to compel all the members of a group of children to write 
en the same subject at the same time, it is so seldom that they can 
have simultaneously the same emotional or intellectual material for 
expression. Such efforts as most of these things represent were 
made chiefly as a result of the certainty of finding a sympathetic 
eye or ear—or several of them. 


Little flowers, how-do-you-do? 
How long are you going to stay? 
Through all the silent day? 
Mary Jane, First Grade 


THE WAVES 


The waves dashed on the rocks so high 
They almost reached the sky. 


A BEE 


One day I saw a bumblebee in the air, 
He flew up to me and pounded upon my hair. 


WHAT THE LETTER “A” SAID TO ME 
The letter “A” said to me, 
Oh, won’t you tumble over “D” or ‘“G’’? 
Alice M., First Grade 


THE SNOW 


The clouds sail the sky 

When we are skating, you and I. 

The houses look so pretty, covered with snow— 
All the houses, the high and the low. 


Rosemary K., First Grade 


IN WRITING 33 


The waves come rushing in 
And make a song as they come. 
Foam comes with them 
And leaves a wetness on the shore. 
They wear their white caps 
And little blue coats. 
They shine in the sunlight like diamonds. 
The waves bring in shells 
And make holes in the sand. 
Second Grace 


THE SNOW 
The snow is white, 
To my delight. 
And when the sun 
Shines on it bright 
It looks like silvery fairy light. 
Ursula, Second Grade 


WINTER 


In winter I can use my sled— 
I go bumpity, bumpity, bump, down the hill. 
Up I climb to the top again. 
Down I go bumpity, bumpity, bump. 
Second Grade 


Between the dark blue mountains, 
Beneath the tall green pines, 
There’s where the bright sun shines 
When it first rises. 
When the night comes, then the moon-shadows 
Darken the mountains. 
Charlotte C., Second Grade 


THE FAVORITE HEN 


Once upon a time there was a hen. She wanted some baby chicks, 
so she laid four eggs in four days. She sat on them all the time except 
when she ate. One day the eggs cracked open, and out came four little 
chicks. Now she was very happy. When the farmer girl came out, she 
was very pleased, and so was everybody. 

This hen laid an egg every day and was helpful all her life. And 
all the other hens liked her, because she always let them eat first and 
she ate what was left. 

One day she laid a half of an egg, and she hatched this egg, and 
out came a half chick. Now this chick grew like her mother and got a 
full body, and when the mother died this chick took her place and was 
just as good and helpful as her mother was. 

Alice M., Second Grade 


CREALIVESBPRFORT 


SNOWFLAKES 


Ho, you little snowflakes, 
Flying in the air, 
How you come a-tumbling 
Down so fair. 
Alice M., Second Grade 


AN EVENING IN THE WOODS 


The moon had thrown 

Its silver glow 

Over the pines 

That were whispering low. 


The fairies had formed 

A magic circle 

Around the great oak, 

Then the insects awoke. 


The Queen was wearing 
A lovely gown, 

And a little page 

Was carrying her crown. 


The cricket was 
Fiddling a tune 
To a new dance 
Called ‘“‘The Moon.” 


The fairies were 
Swaying gracefully 
Under the branches 
Of the great oak tree. 


Dorothy K., Fifth Grade 


POOR ME 


Di dul de dum, 
I hurt my thumb. 
How did I hurt my thumb? 
Di dul de dum, 
I started to run 
To tell someone 
I hurt my thumb. 
I said 
Poor me! Poor me! 
Di dul de dum. 
Bob McK., Fifth Grade 


IN WRITING 


CANAL 


When the boats come from harbor to harbor, 

And the children yell at us to stop and give them a ride, 
And the sea gulls swoop down at us, 

I think it is like a dream. 


Melville R., Fifth Grade. 


MUSIC 


I heard a noise from far away off, 

I listened once, I listened twice, I listened once again, 

I watched with curious eyes, 

When off in the distance 

I could see a bright light. 

*Twas music coming toward me. 

I looked again. Said I, “It must have wings.” 

So now I know how music comes, 

It has wings and a bright light to see where it should go. 
Frances H., Fifth Grade 


A lighthouse at night 
Is like a cat’s eyes 
Gleaming from a dark corner. 
Gordon B., Sixth Grade 


A wave comes, 
Like a prancing horse, 
Quivers a moment as though undecided, 
Then falls back. 
John C., Sixth Grade 


The fog comes over the land, 
Like a lovely great gray cat 
Stealing into a room. 
Ruth N., Sixth Grade 


A poem reminds me of the flying of a bird 
As it flutters through the blue sky. 
Gordon MacC., Sixth Grade 


35 


Taking off his ragged cap, the smiling Italian made a low bow, 
picked up the coins, and placed them in the pocket of his baggy trousers. 
Then gently picking up his tiny monkey he patted him on the head and 
went away, his bright red necktie flapping in the wind. All the children 


trooped after him. 
Ruth L., Sixth Grade 


36 CREATIVE EFFORT 


THE NORTHLAND 


A whistle shrill across the plain, 
The call of a shivering blast, 
The wind-torn snow in whirling clouds, 
Bounding and leaping fast, 
The ice floes’ seething cataract, 
The maddened, rushing stream, 
And the loveliness intensified 
By a wolf’s starvation scream. 
Tio some it is only the cold and the dearth 
That appear in this land of the snow, 
But to me the land is warmed by love 
Of the wind’s sharp, cutting blow. 
I’ve spent year on year in the Frozen North, 
With the crystal snow ’neath my feet, 
And my face all skinned by the driving wind, 
And by the swirling sleet, 
But I love it all, the wind and the storm 
And the ice in the foaming stream, 
And, most of all, I am thrilled to the core 
By a wolf’s starvation scream. 
Kay C., Eighth Grade 


MY EXPERIENCE 


It was dawn. 

I walked barefoot through the grass. 
The cool dew freshened me, 

The breeze beckoned me, 

I looked around. 

I knew my world was well. 


Bernice R., Eighth Grade 


NOBLESSE OBLIGE 


Browni didn’t like Tabby for several reasons. The first was because 
of her color. Tabby was a nondescript cat. She had a general gray 
color with frequent bars of black, and her eyes were a little too green 
for Browni’s comfort. So for general reasons Browni rather avoided 
her, of course not admitting that it was the green eyes that repelled 
him, but thinking, rather that the odors of long unemptied ash bins and 
those of juicy garbage cans had insinuated themselves into the cat’s fur 
and nauseated his aristocratic young collie nose. 


IN WRITING 37 


It was seldom that the young noble-dog ventured back into the alley 
region, for he was a member of the “Boulevard Athletic Club,” along 
with “Pep” the Scotch terrier and “Shep” the police dog. Indeed, the 
experience now in progress took place during his second venturesome 
visit into the great unknown, in his short four-score days of life. 

Browni trotted down the street nonchalantly, the ear with the white 
tip held pertly in the air, while the other drooped and flopped in the 
rather collegiate style he had seen older dogs use. Browni was pleased 
with himself—one could see it at a glance from his queer side trot and 
from the triumphant angle of his tail. He had just succeeded in chasing 
a big black beetle into his hole, and the dog felt the better for it. 


Browni rounded the corner of a red brick house, when whom should 
he spy in the middle of the walk but Tabby. With a startled “woof,” 
he stopped in his tracks. The green eyes glared at him out of the dark- 
ness of a hot, smelly summer night. Browni stood and looked, and 
Tabby stood and looked. Slowly, inch by inch, the dog’s tail sank, and 
the conspicuous white spot crept closer down toward the rest of his 
head. While the dog’s tail disappeared the cat’s was raised higher and 
higher until it pointed straight up, and the standard of war fluttered at 
the end of it. Then Tabby’s back began to curve. This had always been 
a frightful sight to Browni, and it pained him so that it brought back 
a bit of his courage. ‘“R-r-r-r-woof,’ he managed to hear himself threat. 
“S-s-s-s,” was Tabby’s reply. The sounds fetched back the dog’s courage, 
and he was immediately possessed by the demon Curiosity. Up went his 
tail, up went both ears, and his paws fairly danced in their eagerness. 
“Wuf,” he challenged, ‘“wuf” again, and yet another “wuf.” By this 
time he was dancing around the cat in full mastery of his playful little 
body, and emitting sharp, high-pitched “wufs” at various intervals. 

Suddenly, without any warning, the cat gave a loud “hiss-s-s pft,” 
and darted off in the direction of Hilger’s ash bin. The poor pup fled in 
holy terror, his tail held tight between his short baby legs. His ears he 
allowed to flutter where they would, and his nose was pointed on the 
home trail. 

Not hearing anyone in pursuit, he slackened his wobbly gallop and 
looked cautiously behind him. To his utter amazement he saw Tabby 
jump into the ash bin with a green water-melon rind for her kittens, and 
not give a snap of her paw for the fleeing canine. This rather touched 
Browni’s vanity, but he decided to make the best of it. “After ali,” he 
thought, “the kind of a cat who would do a thing like that is not the sort 
of a cat I wish to associate with.” 

With a happy wiggle of his tail and a happy nod of his head, he 
turned onto the boulevard where he met his more respectable friends. 


Alice H., High School 


38 CREATIVE EFFORT 


SING, CHILDREN, SING 
Sing, children, sing! 
Sing of the Child 
Born in a manger 
Lowly and mild. 


Shepherds and kings 
Came from afar 
Seeking the Saviour, 
Led by the star. 


Jesus is born, 
Saviour and King. 
Lift up your voices, 
Sing, children, sing! 
Catherine D., High School 


Thunder rolled, crashed, and went muttering off through the heavens 
of a world fifty thousand years younger than at the present time. The 
western horizon was suffused with a fast approaching bank of storm 
clouds, which, reaching forth with inky fingers, blotted out the dyins 
efforts of a sickly sun. 

Far below, upon this sphere of ours, stumbling across a rocky plain 
towards a protecting group of trees, appears that which upon first per- 
ception one would have undoubtedly mistaken for a huge ape possessed 
of the very essence of fear. 

His arms are raised above him in a clumsy, shielding gesture. 
From half distended jaws are emitted low grunts, gutteral groans, and 
sharp screams of evident distress. 

The protecting boughs of the first tree of the group are near. He 
speeds forward. 

Suddenly, from the very heart of the enveloping blanket of clouds, 
leaps a great, jagged beam of lightning. It rifts the heavens, plays 
along the edge of the clouds, and then, shooting downward, splits the 
cutstanding tree, turning it into a blazing torch. 

With a fearful cry, the creature flinches, recoils, and starts back, 
only to be halted by another beam slipping from the very edge of the 
storm-banks and reducing a cliff-like rock to flakelike splinters. 

He ceases to cry, totters a moment, and then falls to the earth. 
Within him a great struggle is going on. He wishes to thank a Power 
for his deliverance, and to request its aid in the calming of the dis- 
traught elements, a Power which he feels exists, and yet about whom no 
clear thoughts are as yet entertained, a Power instilled into his cosmos 
through fear, danger, and the ultimate delivery from these when he was 
unable to deliver himself. Religion has come to mankind. 


Barrett C., High School 


IN WRITING 39 


ATHENS 


Like a heavy frost, 
Which covers a pane of glass in midwinter, 
The thick, white dirt 
Lies over the entire city of Athens— 
The luxurious city of the past, 
Triumphant and at the acme of civilization 
With its white marble Acropolis 
Shining in the glaring sun, 
Like mother of pearl jewel-boxes. 
Far from the city of splendor and wealth 
Is the Athens of today. 
A city of ruins, of paupers, of beggars, 
A city crushed as if some 
Mighty being had trampled on it. 
Desiring naught but to be let live, 
Athens exists. 
Janet L., High School 


A BABY IN THE CASE 


The man sighed, barely audibly. He was not an imposing looking 
figure, and no one in the car turned about to notice him. He was of 
medium stature, with an habitual expression of inquiry on his thin, pale 
face. The scanty hairs on his head were pale yellow, and pale blue the 
eyes that looked questioningly from behind heavy-rimmed glasses. His 
clothes didn’t seem to fit him, for his thin, bony wrists and large hands 
protruded awkwardly far below sleeves which were made much too short 
for him. His collar was limp, and the black tie was twisted, faded, and 
desolate looking. Everything about him was pale and insignificant. He 
sat in the speeding car with an infant beside him. She was wrapped in 
a dirty woolen blanket. He looked at the child often, and with much 
anxiety, to see if everything was well with her, and then he stared ahead 
with a bewildered look in his watery eyes. 


Outside, the wind whistled, and the dark clouds hurried overhead. 
The incessant splash of summer rain against the car window comforted 
him. The train swayed, banged, and the passengers groaned with the 
heat and the oppressive, downheartening humidity. Many tried to sleep 
in cramped, distorted positions. 


Across the aisle a mother lay half asleep with a dirty, smeary child 
flung across her knee. The child whimpered, and the mother sighed. The 
other passengers were all men, men with dirt-stained clothes, grimy 
hands, dusty shoes, and dripping faces. A large, heavy-featured Swede 
slumped in his seat, removed his thick, spattered shoes, and exposed his 


40 . CREATIVE EFFORT 


torn red socks. The mother sniffed disgustedly, and attempted to sleep. 
A burly laborer snored. Bundles, unfinished sandwiches, cups, and broken 
boxes littered the seats. The man with the baby-blue eyes sighed again, 
and looked out through the spattered window. 

Beyond the wire fences were wild flowers, purple, gold, white, and 
blue; fields of oats, wheat, and clover made the land look like a huge 
patchwork quilt. The man, John Smith as he was called, smiled a pale 
smile. For this little beauty he was profoundly grateful. He looked 
down upon the mite of humanity near him, and the smile faded from 
his lips. 

“Honey, are you all right?” he whispered. 

The babe gurgled, and John Smith was aware of her big, blue eyes, 
small turned-up nose, and rosy lips. She was a pretty little girlie, and 
just nine months old. So clever, too. Smith looked out of the window 
again. The train passed through a tiny village, and Smith noticed the 
small houses, the roads like white ribbons, the church spire, and the 
General Store with the town loiterers dozing on the benches in front of 
it, and, beyond, the long beckoning, swaying, waves of ripening grain. 
From his pocket John Smith took out a battered ham sandwich, and be- 
gan munching it. The crumbs dropped upon the red plush, and he brushed 
them off rapidly, and anxiously hoped that no one had seen them. 
Finally, after much debate with himself, he concluded that the baby must 
have water. He got up slowly, and stumbled down the aisle. He 
lurched against the resting Swede. 

“Oh, I beg your pardon,” stammered Smith, trembling. “Sir, I hope 
I haven’t hurt you.” 

The Swede stretched, but said nothing, and Smith went on. When 
he reached the water cooler, he filled his little tin cup and started on his 
long trip back. The water dripped in the aisle, and as the train went 
over a large bump, the last contents of the cup were spilled on the doz- 
ing Swede’s feet. More painful embarrassment, more unanswered apolo- 
gies, and back to the water cooler again. 

At the next station a young couple boarded the train. The “flapper” 
wife sat down behind Smith. She took out a “Motion Picture Maga- 
zine,” and began chewing her wad of gum violently. She called out in 
a shrill, raucous voice for a porter, and, as no one came, she flung her 
cheap felt hat and thin, scrawny fur piece across the aisle. The hat 
missed the seat, and Smith got up and quietly replaced it on the seat 
for the owner. He looked at her, and secretly wished that she would 
ask to see the babe. He wanted to inform everyone that the pretty little 
baby belonged to him, and then he stared ahead with a stunned look. 

The girl’s husband returned, and sat down beside her, resting his 
thick oxfords on their battered satchel, one strap of which was broken. 

“You and your darn magazines. Ain’t you got no intellect? Do 
you haf’ta read such trash? Do you ever see me doing it?” And with 
that the irate husband took out “Robbing the Midnight Stage.” 


IN WRITING 4] 


Near Smith sat a crusty Western magnate with hot, dirty, perspir- 
ing hands. His collar was off, and his tie removed. He fussed and 
fumed. The rain irritated him. He walked up and down incessantly 
like a caged tiger. He stumbled over many feet, but he apologized to 
no one. 

Outside, the distant lights of the small villages looked like so many 
stars. Shadows were falling on the green and gold fields as twilight 
descended. Night-fall had cooled the atmosphere only a little. The rain 
had stopped, however, and the moon had begun to rise over a clump of 
dark trees. 

The tired mother removed the pins from her hair, and shook out 
the heavy folds. The mop of hair was so hot, however, that she twisted 
it in a tight knot on top of her head. She opened her satchel, and took 
out a fresh box of Graham crackers. 

“Eat them,” she said abruptly to the drowsy child, “you’ll be hungry 
by morning.” 

“I wanna go in the diner. I do! I ain’t ever seen a diner what has 
such pretty ladies and men what look like my daddy. Ma, lemme go, 
please,” pleaded the child. 

Doubtless that piteous cry went right to the mother’s heart, and 
Smith turned to the window with a sigh. 

“All I have, Baby, I’d give you, but I haven’t got enough to let you 
eat in the diner,’ replied the woman. “You must eat the crackers. 
They’re good for little girls, and you won’t get a tummy ache from them. 
Why, if you went in the diner you might get such a pain from eating too 
much. You never can tell. Then, then I’d have to give you castor oil,” 
responded the mother in a quavering voice. 

The child, with the knowledge that comes with long vears of denial, 
turned to the window, and winked back the tears that would come. 
Hours passed, and soon the travellers began making preparations for 
the night. The “flapper” brushed the banana peelings off the seat, and 
put her dirty satchel under her head. Then as if suddenly remembering 
something, she sat up, and smeared some cold cream on her face, combed 
her wavy hair with an ivory pocket comb, and again composed herself 
for sleep. Her husband removed his coat, rolled it up in a ball, put it 
under his head, and stretched himself out with a grunt. The Westerner 
put his head against a window sill and his feet in the aisle, and began 
snoring. 

Smith sat nearer to the window, and looked out pensively. The 
moon which had been shining wanly a few moments previous, was now 
completely covered by a large, black, fleecy cloud. He could not but 
compare it with his own life. It had not keen a bright or even joyous 
one, but it had had many moments of exquisite happiness. Even these 
were gone, shadowed, just like the pale moon, with the cloud of disaster. 
To feel sorry for himself never entered his mind, but for the young in- 
nocent soul, who would not know the world or its ways for many years, 


42 CREATIVE EFFORT 


it was an entirely different matter. He sighed heavily. There seemed to 
be a great weight tugging at his heart. i 

“The poor baby girl. What will she do? What will happen to her? 
Oh, God, that it had never happened,” he cried in his heart. 

He put his thin hand to his forehead as if to brush away the agoniz- 
ing thoughts. He rested his head in his hands. He started up as an 
infant’s piercing wail broke the silence. 

“Ssh, Baby, daddy is right here. He’s right beside you, and he'll not 
let anything bother you. Go back to sleep now, and daddy will hold you 
in his arms,” whispered Smith. 

He took the child in his arms. He frowned anxiously. He wondered 
with a start if she were ill, if anything hurt her. 

“What’s the matter? Tell daddy. Does anything hurt you? Ssh!” 
implored Smith. 

Whatever might have been wrong, the nine months old baby was un- 
able to state it to her worried father. The cry gathered strength. The 
last scream aroused the mother across the aisle, and she raised herself 
upon her elbow. 

“What a wonderful nurse you make! Keep the kid quiet. You’re 
not the only person on this car. There are others, and we want to 
sleep. Get me?” said she cuttingly. 

“Oh! I am so sorry. Indeed I wish Baby would stop. I fear some- 
thing is wrong, and thank you for saying I’m a good nurse. I suppose I 
am a little clumsy, but I do try awfully hard,” replied Smith in a sad 
voice. 

Another yell from the screaming infant aroused the Westerner and 
the Swede. For three long, wearisome days they had travelled and 
journeyed in dirt, in grime, in noise, and in heat. Then, after much 
effort, they had fallen asleep. They lay in cramped, distorted positions, 
but when they lost consciousness they forgot all their misery in refresh- 
ing slumber. The day’s rain had cooled the atmosphere, and for the first 
time they had actually slept. To be aroused from their comforting rest 
was too much for these tired men to endure. 

“Take the brat to its mother. She’s the proper nurse. Where is 
she? I suppose she’s sleeping soundly somewhere without this yelling 
kid. By God! Clear out of here or T’Il1 ——————,” thundered the 
Westerner. 

His eyes were bloodshot, and he waved his arms in a frenzy. He 
rose unsteadily, and lunged at the terrified man with the little blue bundle 
in his arms. For a minute Smith was petrified with terror. His pale 
face grew paler, his throat went dry, his heart beat maddeningly, his 
eyes dilated. Suddenly, however, his face regained its normal color, and 
as if strengthened from some unseen source, he looked at the gesticulat- 
ing man with a glance full of sorrow, but with no sign of fear. 

“You are right, my friend, my wife is sleeping.”” He swayed, and his 
voice broke. “And she is sleeping quietly. She sleeps with no disturb- 


IN WRITING 43 


ance, it is true, for she sleeps in the arms of the Almighty. She lies 
in her coffin two cars ahead.” 

Smith sank back on the seat with his head buried in his hands. The 
baby whimpered. Perhaps she understood. A silence fell upon the 
angry passengers. The Westerner closed his eyes, and he thought of the 
little mound of sand in the desert. Ten years ago he, too, had laid his 
Annabelle to rest. The mother looked at her baby, and, with a start, 
wondered what would happen to the child if she was ever to pass on. 
The flapper and her husband thought of their childless home with a new 
rush of feeling. The Westerner was the first to speak. The anger died 
in his piercing, black eyes, and his gruff voice grew mild: 

“Go, my friend, sit with her. I understand,’ and he held out his 
arms for the little bundle. 

At those two words, “I understand,’ grateful tears sprang into 
Smith’s eyes, and he gave the child to the crusty Westerner. 

“God bless you,” said Smith, and in a few rapid steps he had left 
the car. 

The Westerner stood silent for a moment. He then walked silently 
to his seat. The baby had grown quiet, and lay looking up at him with 
big, shining eyes. The flapper sat opposite, and amused the child, or at 
least tried to, with her cheap string of glass beads. Then the Swede 
held up his watch chain, and the mother her diamond engagement ring. 
The baby rewarded these efforts by falling asleep, and her entertainers 
went back to their seats silently, but with a strange, warm, indescribable 
feeling in their hearts. 

Lucylle N., High School 


SONNET TO 


My thoughts at morn are always first of you, 
All day your charming self I try to please, 
The evening brings once more sweet reveries, 
And in my dreams sweet fancies do I woo. 
You first appeared to me to be quite cold, 
But when an introduction to you got— 
My blood did chill and then again ran hot; 
While your thoughts, —————, seem perfectly controlled. 
Fair maid, this unknown power do you hold, 
And fate will bid you cast for me my lot: 
There is an ocean which from sea is locked, 
And none but you can e’er this dam unfold. 
Pray! from your life all other rivers blot, 
And never let this ocean ’gain be blocked! 
Herbert K. H., High School 


44 CREATIVE, BRFORT 


SONNET ON MATRIMONY 


Some take one step and are at once dissolved, - 
While others tempt it twice or more, we find; 
All wed for love, or leap from impulse blind, 
And each one through his fortune comes involved. 
The first is he on whom love takes its hold, 

Who works like dog to have his train well-bred, 
(Who for their thanks complain till strength is fled) 
Then lives—to see a grandchild in his fold. 
There’s he who marries because others do, 
Treading the prints of time without a thought; 
He gets divorced!—a sour battle fought— 

And wreaks revenge on all men in his view. 
Thus every woman ruins man or more; 

And still men fall—and fall—despite their lore. 


Herbert K. H., High School 


ON ENJOYMENTS 


Our lives may roughly be divided into periods of pleasure, pain, and 
sheer boredom. We live for the former, and, somehow, through the 
others. Our lives would swiftly terminate if denied pleasure, and yet 
there is no form of distinct enjoyment that is not condemned roundly 
by those finding happiness in other pursuits. We look with scornful 
glare upon the gentle joys of head-hunting, opium-eating, and murder. 
Yet there are those who gain a genuine satisfaction, a sublime, thrilling 
ecstacy from such disreputable occupations. 

It would seem, and so it does seem to many people, that pure 
ecstacy is reached only when its result will be harmful to the doer, or 
to other people. Drugs, prostitution, and countless vile practices are 
indulged in by persons who think that in them they find the greatest 
type of pure joy attainable. 

But it is the saint that laughs pityingly at the sophisticated sinner. 
The thrill of knowing God, the overcoming of temptation, the joy of at- 
taining heights, the satisfaction of goodliness, and the pride of character 
overshadow by far the vain pleasures of the hour. The capacity of the 
good man for pleasure is unlimited. Each day his cup runneth over. 

But the sinner tires of his pursuits, or becomes the slave of his pas- 
sion. In the former case he finds himself with no field open for further 
happiness. In the latter he is broken and destroyed. The former en- 
joyed too much—he has nothing to fulfill his desire now; the latter has 
his harvesting of pain. 

The happiest man is usually a good man—that is, good in the wider 
sense. He may not subject himself to church, charity, or reform, but if 
he is not a rotter, if he abides by the laws of his country and his in- 
herited faith, is honest and moderately prosperous, he is in a fair way 
to gain pleasures of many varieties. 


IN WRITING 45 


This man is not the happiest man in the world, but he is the average 
man, and he can be greatly satisfied with his lot if he does not meet with 
serious misfortune. The happiest men in the world are the men of 
genius, or zealous in a certain honorable faith or order. Happy, more in 
the sense of really attaining the ecstacy that more ignorant people seek 
vainly in evil. 

These men, regardless of their material possessions, find exaltation 
in the expression of their genius, or in pursuit of their faith. Their joy 
is a most supreme and delicate emotion. But we of lesser greatness are 
denied this. Yet we too feel our spirits soar when our honest work is 
praised, or when, with honest heart, we can congratulate ourselves. 

In finding ourselves, at this youthful age, neither to be geniuses nor 
yet of ordinary mould (for we cannot admit the latter until our pride 
is squashed by life), and finding ourselves neither built for a strenuously 
evil life nor built for one of piety, our greatest concern is the one of dis- 
covering our particular road to happines. 

Up to now we found pleasure in the same ways and manners. All 
children delight in movies, candy, and vacation. Our scope, however, has 
been widening. Books take the place of marbles; perhaps cigarettes will 
find a mouth here that teased for one more chocolate then. Athletics will 
be abandoned later, our girths will grow, our youths will soon be mem- 
ories. What will be our enjoyments? It is now that we must build a 
capacity for pleasure. 

If we are to enjoy travel to the utmost, now must we find the his- 
tory and the significance of the places we shall cross. If art shall thrill 
us, now we must learn of its purpose, its past, and its exponents. If 
we find physical joys, our bodies now must grow strong and tall. Now 
let us form the vessel into which life shall pour her glory. 

Allan B., High School 


The older children, we have said, often ask for criticism. Of 
course, there must be criticism of a kind from the start. Technique, 
although subordinated, must be thoroughly taught. But children 
should not be asked to write for the sake of technique. Johnny 
will very likely enjoy trying to make you see and hear what he 
saw and heard that interested him. He will not be particularly 
eager to try to “write a vivid description,” at least until his years 
shall have increased. On the other hand he is likely to be glad to 
be shown how to make what he has written more interesting or 
more true. Py 

In conclusion it is safe to say two things about vérbal ex- 
pression, despite variance of opinion among teachers as to modes 
of approach and adult points-of-view. Perhaps both statements 
are truisms, but they are not always lived up to by the best of us. 


46 CREATIV EX EFFORT 


If children are encouraged to write what they really feel, 
their expression will be happy and spontaneous. 


If they write with a sense of freedom, much of what they 
write will be entertaining, and some of it will be beautiful indeed. 





A Christmas Card 


CREATIVE EFFORT—MOTOR-MENTAL RHYTHMICS 
AS A PREPARATION 


Epitor’s Note—Given freedom, children will create. This we 
say over and over. But there is one kind of bondage which most of 
us are powerless to destroy, namely, the slavery of physical inhibi- 
tions. The littlest children in our school go through the experiences 
described in the following article. Subtly creative in themselves, 
these experiences are most important for their major purpose: “The. 
child is directly aided in gaining a sound body, a sound mind, and 
a sound emotional nature—the ability for expression free from self- 
consciousness.” 


Rhythm is basic in all the arts—both the interpretative and the 
creative—and the earlier the child’s rhythmic sense is developed the 
better will be his foundation for both appreciation of and partici- 
pation in the arts. 

Old dance forms such as folk dancing are imitative, for it is 
impossible for the child to have the same impulses that created 
those forms of expression, but if without direction he acts out 
“Jack and Jill” or “The North Wind Doth Blow,’ for example, 
with movements appropriate to the music and the words, he is in- 
terpreting those songs. If through movement he expresses his own 
mood in rhythmic form, he is being creative. 

The creative expression can not safely be approached directly 
by the teacher, but the interpretative may. When the children enter 
the room for Motor-Mental Rhythmics their attention is on the 
music, as for example it may be music that suggests skipping or 
running or walking, or it may be slow, sustained music without 
strong accents which suggests movement of the same quality such 
as a slow relaxation of the body beginning with the back of the 
neck and going through the shoulders, lower part of the back, and 
then one leg and then the other until the child is folded on his 
knees. It is not necessary that this expression should be uniform, 
but it should be appropriate to the music. This in a simple way is 
interpretative. 


47 


48 CREATIVE EFFORT 


In a broad way the purpose of Motor-Mental Rhythmics is the 
harmonious development of the body, the mind, and the emotions 
into a unity that makes for power and conscious control. Educa- 
tors have realized the necessity for physical training as well as 
mental training, but the two things have had little or no relation, 
and the element of emotion as interrelated has been almost entirely 
ignored. The high power stimulus of modern life is making this 
lack of harmony in our development very pronounced; hence the 
large field for psycho-analysts and psychiatrists. 

The average child, through either heredity or environment, has 
physical inhibition that can be overcome by relaxation and correl- 
ative movements which are at first spontaneous and later are 
brought under control of the mind. The body is like an instru- 
ment which is a satisfying means of expression when i{ is in tune 
and mechanically in order, and most unsatisfactory when it is not. 
With the instrument—the body—under physical and mental control, 
the expression of emotion becomes a natural, wholesome outlet. 
This is so fundamental that it is related to all the arts. Muric, 
being more concretely related to movement, is used as a stimulus 
to expression. 

If children are to appreciate or produce music, they must first 
learn to live it, for rhythmic sensibility lies at the foundation of 
musical appreciation and execution, and is fundamental in all musi- 
cal education. Motor-Mental Rhythmics aims to release and de- 
velop this organic expression of musical feeling, avoiding set forms 
and enforced precision, and encouraging free and individual ex- 
pression. The child very early feels the relation of movement and 
rhythm and follows the music spontaneously through different 
music moods. Music that is within the child’s musical experience 
is used, as the Mother Goose songs with the youngest children, and 
later the folk songs of different countries, and the simpler of the 
classics. 

From the first the sense of pitch is developed by the elevation 
of the arms; first recognition of the different registers, and later 
the following of the simple melodies. At the same time, the ability 
to express notes of different duration by slow or rapid walking and 
running is gained, which combined with pitch, taken with the arms, 
gives an expression of melody and rhythm. Later the expression 


MOTOR-MENTAL RHYTHMICS 49 


of form is approached so simply. and naturally that the child soon 
makes his own pattern for the compositions that have become so 
familiar that they are a part of his being. 

After the child can hear and feel music and express it with 
his body, comes the time, and then only, for the symbols of music. 
In the Motor-Mental classes in the Francis W. Parker School, very 
little attention can be given to the teaching of music notation, for 
lack of time. Some attention is, however, given to the use of cards 
with notes of different values, with which the children arrange 
melodies, both original and those dictated by the piano. Charts 
with three octaves of the piano keyboard may be used; also large 
cards with the staff and notation of the melodies familiar to the 
children are used to train the eye, as well as the ear, to follow the 
line of the melody. The children are often given instruments of 
percussion—cymbals, drum, etc., and their instinct for making 
noise is released in a joyful, satisfying, and intelligent way. 

Through this work the child is directly aided in gaining a 
sound body, a sound mind, and a sound emotional nature—the 
ability for expression free from self-consciousness. 








v 





rp 


ies 





Free-hand Drawing used as a Motif for Design. (See p. 1€9) 


‘ph ek OH oe 
#0 Here ee & 








The Chariot of the Sun (Field Day Exercise) 














50 


CREATIVE EFFORT—IN DALCROZE EURYTHMICS 


“But what shall this education be? Is any better than the old- 
fashioned sort which is comprehended under the name of music 
and gymnastic? . . . Music includes literature . . . And 
he who mingles music with gymnastic in the fairest proportion and 
best attempers them to the soul, may be rightly called the true 
musician and harmonist in a far higher sense than the tuner of the 
strings . . . And such a presiding genius will be always re- 
quired in our State if the government is to last.”’—The Republic— 
Plato. 


“Educationists should bear in mind that while rhythm plays a 
preponderant role in art, serving to unite all manifestations of 
beauty and animating them with the same throbbing life, it should 
constitute a no less important factor in general education, co- 
ordinating all the spiritual and corporal movements of the indi- 
vidual, and evolving in the latter a mental state in which the com- 
bined vibrations of desires and powers are assoctated in perfect 
harmony and balance. ‘Only the soul can guide the body along 
the path the mind has traced for it’.’—Rhythm, Music, and Edu- 
cation—J aques-Dalcroze. 


Greek life is the subject for fourth grade work. The children 
read from “Four Old Greeks” or from Palmer’s translation of the 
“Odyssey.” They model in clay such subjects as occur to them 
from their reading; they paint in the same way scenes of their own 
imagining, each individual choosing his own subject. These paint- 
ings are as a rule unusually good, with movement and animation 
strikingly in evidence. The art teacher of this grade gives the 
credit for this excellence in a large measure to the children’s ex- 
perience in Dalcroze Eurythmics, which affords them practical 
understanding of the movements they depict. 

This is of course a fundamental requisite in any expressive 
work—a real feeling for rhythm or movement. An expert art 


51 


DZ CREATIVE EFFORT 








The End of the Hammer Throw 


teacher will always suggest as the best aid to successful drawing 
the actual performance of the motion by the one who is drawing it 
—not just assuming the pose, if he is wise, but making the whole 
sequence of movements of which the pose is just one moment fixed 
in the memory. This expression of rhythm by means of bodily 
movement, which Dalcroze discovered was the most effectual ap- 
proach to the study of music, is therefore seen to be fundamental 
to all the arts. 

In order to understand this fourth grade work it will be neces- 
sary to consider the work done in the first three grades. The steps 
in the development of this rhythmic work may be sketchily out- 
lined. 

First comes interest in discovering a particular element in the 
music which is to be expressed by walking, running, skipping, 
clapping, in the same tempo as the music which is being impro- 
vized by the teacher. Accents are listened for in the same way, 
clapped when heard, and the weak beats thrown away. Listening 


IN DALCROZE EURYTHMICS 53 


for the measure comes next, and when the children can hear 
whether the measure is two or three, they learn to beat time as an 
orchestra conductor does, and eventually learn all kinds of meas- 
ures, beating with both arms or one. 

Differences in the length of sound are heard by the child and 
illustrated by slow or fast steps for quarter, eighth, triplet, and 
sixteenth notes—by a step and one or more movements in place 
for the longer note values, such as half notes, dotted halves, and 
whole notes. 

The many elements of music which a child may learn to hear 
and feel, expressing them in movement, can only be suggested in 
this enumeration, as the idea in this atticle is to remind the reader 
that music, coming from the dance originally, contains all the 
rhythms it is possible for a body to express. This variety sustains 
interest which the increasing ability to hear and express accurately 
develops into concentration and a much greater capacity for using 
the subconscious mental powers. The process of hearing, thinking, 








The Fourth Movement of the Discus Throw 


54 CREATIVE POWER 





The Fourth Grade in a Greek Play 


and acting thus initiated is the real basis of creative work, for it 
compels the activity of the mind and imagination as well as the 
body of each individual. Imitation alone can never awaken creative 
ability, in dancing as in the other arts. 

Co-ordination of bodily movements, spontaneity of will, ability 
to inhibit and to economize effort, overcoming physical resistances 
to the rhythmic and smooth performance of bodily movements, are 
the results toward which all exercises are aimed. For a fuller ex- 
planation of the theory of eurythmics, the reader is urged to refer 
to “Music, Rhythm, and Education,” by E. Jaques-Dalcroze—a col- 
lection of lectures by the great teacher and originator of Dalcroze 
Eurythmics. 

So true it is that the best expression is obtained from children 
under the stimulus of interest and imagination that most rhythmic¢ 
drills may be accomplished most effectually through imaginative 
games. Thus all feeling for different kinds of measure and note 
values is developed in the three primary grades through games 
which correlate with the children’s other school work if possible. 

The fourth grade children, prepared by their rhythmic experi- 
ence in these grades, are keenly susceptible to music and accustomed 
to adapt their movements to the tempo, dynamics, and rhythms of 
music. 

Dalcroze Eurythmics approaches as near Greek education, ac- 
cording to the expressed conviction of many educators, as can be 
conceived of in this age. (See the quotation from Plato at the 
beginning of this article.) A fourth grade child, reading in “Men 
of Old Greece,” can get a very real visualization of the following: 

The court was filled with boys at work. Some were throwing the 


disc. . . . The thrower held it in his right hand. He swung it back 
and forth to get a good movement. Then he threw it .. . Some 


IN DALCROZE EURYTHMICS ae 


boys were jumping . . . Other boys were throwing spears at a 
mark . . . Some slaves sat in one corner, playing on trumpets and 
drums. In the court, boys were dancing to this war music. They were 
pretending to be warriors. They carried shields and swords. They 
moved forward and struck out with their swords. Then they leaped to 
one side and put up their shields . . . All this they did in time to 
the music, yet it looked almost like a real battle. It was hard work. 
The boys’ bodies were dripping. Their eyes and cheeks glowed.— 
Jennie Hall. 

This description was the inspiration of our year’s work. 
Throwing the disc was practiced as a real Greek has taught us to 
do it. The music of a Sword Dance by Poldini was found to suit 
our purpose, and the stirring rhythm gave impulse to the rather 
difficult movements of the hammer throw, stone putting, and disc 
throwing. The entire grade practiced these games with great en- 
thusiasm and performed them on Field Day, ending -with the 
chariot race in honor of Apollo, which is done every year. 

Another year, the Pan-Athenaic Procession was the theme of 
our Field Day, with only the winners of the various games taking 
part—the best disc throwers, runners, and jumpers, and the win- 
ners of the torch race and the chariot race. 

A torch dance, in a difficult five-four measure, was one of the 
features of the fourth grade work one year. The dance formed 
part of a Greek play. All were eager to have torches for this dance, 
but the day before the performance arrived, and the teacher had 
no idea of how these torches could be made. A group of children 
volunteered to make them. Under the leadership of one boy, they 
gathered dry brush, twisting it together in the form of a torch, 
cutting small snips of red and orange paper for the flame, and fast- 





The Fourth Grade in a Greek Play 


56 CREATIVE, EFFORT 


ening these in the end of the bunch of twigs. The result was 
startlingly realistic and a most effective touch in the play. It also 
was a great lesson to the teacher, in the creative ability of children. 

Music for a ball game has been composed by Jaques-Dalcroze 
and is often used in this Greek work; but the composition entitled 
“Les Chevaux,” also by Dalcroze, is always the supreme test for 
this grade, as it demands a great amount of sustained attention, 
memory, and physical control. The drivers, walking the whole 
notes, half notes, and quarters, are always walking twice as slowly 
as the horses, except in one place where they are going two steps 
to the horses’ three. There is no doubt that the difficulty of this 
work would be insurmountable without the stimulus of interest in 
the Greeks. 

How is this creative work? Is it not a real effort on the part 
of each child to create a Greek festival? His own part is of 
supreme importance both in his hope of outdoing his own previous 
record and as his contribution to the excellence of the whole per- 
formance. Also, as each movement has significance and sequence, 
it is not a mere imitation or drill. The whole, unified and inspired 
by the rhythm and harmony of the music, makes an expression 
which is joyous and spontaneous, both necessary elements of true 
creative art. 

















The Fourth Grade Children in the Discus Throw 


CREATIVE EFFORT—IN MELODY 
(The Older Children) 


Recent collections of children’s work in art and in music are 
confirming our feeling that there is much ability in children to 
create in these forms which is not being discovered early enough, 
if at all. Creative talent great enough to demand expression for 
itself will usually take care of itself; but the lesser talent ought to 
be developed also, for the good of the individual if not for the rest 
of the world. Every child ought to have the opportunity to try, 
and in certain cases the work should go on for a considerable 
period. It should last long enough to permit the pupil to work 
through that first superficial layer of largely-imitative melodies 
which occur to almost everyone (the present collection and most 
others I have seen are of this sort), and go on from there to genu- 
ine creative work in the presumably rare cases when that is pos- 
sible. We believe that if a pupil has the necessary leisure, and the 
right kind of stimulation and help, he may discover for himself a 
whole new range of power and joy in this work. 

We select the children for this experiment for various reasons, 
not always because they ardently desire it. They often desire it 
when they have no power at all to shape a single phrase. Ob- 
viously the child who is very musical should have the first oppor- 
tunity, but there are less obvious reasons governing the selection 
of other children, which it would be difficult to state in detail. A 
series of typical examples would be necessary to show our ideas 
on this point. 

The process must be really free. Most of the instruction 
should come incidentally out of the pupil’s own felt need of it, 
and instruction must never interfere with the joy of free expres- 
sion. There is one current method of doing this work which we 
believe prevents free expression in all children, and that is the 
method of mechanically building up tunes phrase by phrase under 
direction and criticism. 

If our children saw frequently great architecture, paintings, 
and sculpture, and heard only the best music, and if they came into 
contact with great teachers and preachers and noteworthy person- 


oy, 


58 CREATIVE EFFORT 


alities, they would have a content for self-expression which might 
eventuate in a thousand beautiful forms. As it is, we must help 
them to express what they want to express. Whatever the con- 
tent, it is surely true that until they have had both of these op- 
portunities in full measure, to experience and to express, they have 
not had the chance of acquiring what Colonel Parker calls “that 
which is noblest in a human being—the impelling power to action. 
In all action under motive the will is brought into continuous 
exercise: * 

The steps in the development of self-criticism which lead to 
the establishment of a personal standard of judgment and taste 
come naturally in original work. Self-criticism leads to self-disci- 
pline and the deeper action of the will to create. But skill must 
keep pace with the critical faculty, and we hope to aid in supplying 
the stimulus and the beginning of technique for a genuine, clear- 
headed desire for self-expression. In order to do this in the best 
way we should have in the music department a real composer who 
would carry the work far enough to get results which would be 
satisfying to the pupil. I do not wish to indicate that pupils do 
not care for their tunes at present. They do—often intensely. 

The original songs which follow, written chiefly by children 
of the upper grades, are printed now for the purpose of showing 
the best of the results of opportunities for easy self-expression as 
they have been supplied in our school for many years. These little 
songs show some background of musical taste, and they exhibit 
musical imagery called up spontaneously by poetry under motive. 
The process is a very simple one. Almost no instruction in either 
musical or poetic form is given. We start the idea of composing 
only when there is some reason for the pupil’s wanting to compose. 
May Day has always been our special time for original poems and 
songs, and each year in March our teachers begin talking about it 
with the pupils. They are given a little booklet of texts suitable 
for songs, including a very considerable variety. Three “prize 
poems” of former May Days, written by children, are included, to- 
gether with other simple and more or less obvious spring poems; 
there are texts for songs for boys, Christmas songs, beautiful Eng- 
lish and German lyrics, ethical poems, nonsense rhymes, etc. Two 
or three pupils work at a time with a teacher in the group room, 
or they may find a corner where they may work alone; sometimes 

*“Talks on Pedagogics,” p. 227. 


IN MELODY 59 


they think out the tune at home. The melodies are written upon 
the board and sung by the class, and the interpretation worked out 
with the help of the teacher, subject to the choice of the “com- 
poser.” They are only then criticized in detail by the composer 
and the class. Such suggestions as seem useful are added by the 
teacher, especially as to form, but there is absolutely no inter- 
ference in matters of taste. The song represents the pupil’s taste 
as far as we can find it out. In regard to the accompaniment, if the 
pupil has no skill and no ideas at all on the subject, various possi- 
bilities are suggested to him and harmonies chosen by him. 


; Geunel Song, 
William Morris. Rib. Grade Boy. 








So now amidst ovr clay of strife, W. (he 








lighT of life Gleam thro The Tangle of To-day, 


Robert was from Boston. He selected the poem for his text at home, 
and brought the melody complete, and neatly written down. His feel- 
ing of seriousness about the school’s ideals was unusual. The melody 
has good form and is appropriate to the text, if not very interesting. 


Hellas 


VIRGINIA WAGNER- Fourth Grade Group Fourth Grade 1908-9 


Sle SSeS 


Oh! Im think-ing of Hellas Of far - a-way Hellas, Where the 
-Oh! I'm* think-ing of Hellas Of far- a-way Hellas, Where the 















































































ze fe ee 
green fieldsare ly - ing Wherethe sun-light is dy - ing, Oer the far stretch-ing 
cat - tle are low-ing Wherethe wat-ers are  flow-ing,On the wide sun - light 









































== 








Last ending 


SE ae eS SSE 


fields of Hel- las 
fields of my Hel - las 


































My far. a way Hel - las. 















































Fairies’ Spinning Song * 


CONSTANCE Mac KAYE 
Andante 


re fee le oe, on 


Twirland tur twirland turn, — Thistlekin Flittermouse 


irth Grade 1910-11 


sea 

























































































Saas mia mamas ee 


s the gar - ment pre-pare, Fit for a pr 





















































: SS ==5:5 ain oo 


Gold-en the threadon the spin-dle flie Pearl-y thetea 














a-dews eyes 








































































































Th 
e M 
er 
ccohautn1 
21. 


Vv ¢ 
| x ve Re 
. id a dd i cpl 14 
95 


Ae 
eG ba 
rade B 
oyYs- 













{) 
6 OS EE ee 2 ee “  1Y 
PL SS Lee Ley Sees BS BCT Per es Ae loro eee ee Se bee Oe BS ee ae pe 
a See ee eee a 
‘BSS, SS BK PAB 








Two Sou qs for the Little Children. 
Northerly I 


Old English. Three rede rele 








A apa eed ay 
cers He M.T.G. 7*Gracte Ciel 


L\ 
ie crm PS Goat ol Bee eee AN BAS iaa naa Soe Wer a, 
0 6 Ot 









been Ci hes honk be (eee Thee Flow ye wwitatal $ hergh-ho | A- 





ed 


bow 111g glove, Ten thousand miles a way. 


65 


Buccaneers Song ; 
me devote + R.B.,1 “Cradle Boy 


fs > 
et OCR 2 ef eS SR 0 Ee ESS) SE 6S Ee EE ee SB 
EE, EEE EE SE SEA ML PS re 

EE EE 








oe 


Kuow we know, 





In the effort to give the boys the necessary courage to try to write 
a melody, the teacher discussed the differences between the speaking 
and singing voice, and read the text. The first phrase of the song was 
taken by Richard from his observation of the speech melody as the 
teacher read the words. Interest mounted steadily after that, and he 
finished the song with blazing eyes and red cheeks, twenty minutes 


after dismissal time. 


Meine Motter Hate Gewoll? 
Storm. 


Bo E It ™Cracle Boy 


Accom panimen t. 





Mer-ue Moutler ets ge- wollt #F 


De ee 
a 





This is characteristic of the boy’s feeling at the time he wrote it. He and 
another musical boy were deeply interested in ‘“Immensee.” This song was writ- 
ten to be played in one of a series of three dialogues which the two boys devised 
for morning exercises. They represented an aspiring young violinist (Joseph E.) 
and a famous musician and critic (Alfred F.). 


The young man is supposed to 
come for lessons, and for criticism of his first composition. He plays the melody 
on his violin, expressly stating that it has been written as an illustration of the 
essential feeling of the text, rather than as a song to be sung. 


The accompaniment 
is printed exactly as Joseph wrote it. 


68 


Natalie Mar Farren. May. B.D.,7 © Crade.Cir| 





69 


Natalie Niloc Farren. Group of 5 Grade Boys. 











Natale Mac Parte. Moy RN. 9™ Grade Curl, 





Clctd's of while le ate Thine er aay, And 


Clouds of while Gr emmliiite array And 





71 


=a ee Bar CS bs Te See 
ae 6 ee ee SS 
= pel ar ees RD Bh es Ee eS 


ai a 
Raa Res 
A= pf} ___ ft "gg 
ae ee 


f) Baas 
a ee J ne 
420 Cvs 8 
We 8 Pee 
nae See 





72 


A Horse man, 


Walter de la Mare 


Fou t ¢ Grade Gils. 


pn 





73 


— 
; Sea Fever. 
Masefield . 


Fhrce Gir aa Girls 
RT ES 





5 id 
mustgo down To The sea a- qain,lo The lone-ly see and sky, And 


° S a] . sti 
wheel's kick and The winels song,And The while sails shaking, And 
. ‘ i ‘ 


— 





The girls at first thought that their song should be sung in a quiet, 
somewhat meditative style; but more variety developed after they had 
heard the class sing it a few times. They worked up an energetic 
rhythmic feeling, a crescendo in the third line, and a decrescendo in the 
last one, ending in a quiet, smooth way. 


74 


Windy Ni guts 


R.L.STevenson Dé, lieGradetGrr | 


Sie ea a eS eee 

ee ee ee eee ee ee es a ee (a 

od oi Seta a ee a a coe eee ee er ee he oe he] 
SF i PEER AED RES 





Ge : rn aed 


When-ey-er The ntoom and Slars are Sel, When - ev-er the wind 15 


LZ See eS SSS SSS 
He 2) 2 (SS SE Se A A SE pS 2 SE ES » El Pe Se TI ee 0 SS 
SETS 


ls 


LSS Be SSS (Sr Le 7 2 Se ee eee ee 
i . ev ‘ e 
Y= e Cc) @ | 


—_— ° : 
hiqk All niglet long i The dark and weT A max 90es tiding 





ee SE aS a ae) ae Pe a eRe aae SA) 
Tae ee ee ee ee ee Pee ee Le | ed 0 


oie Fale 5 Weta ope net mee ea 


bale inthe wight when the fire $ Gre oul. Why does he Gallop one 
Rg ge 








75 


‘Se | 2 yt May Day. 
iz ‘ 
aa? pao A... ine Gracie rela 














flow’ rels fatr, Kissed life and bloom into eack little hearT, 








Earth Ww tap peck in wut-lry cloak of Sad-ness. 
cane Pers 
Ly] 














Soft aucl CaTESS IIIA she Gave iT birth, For she was immoral 
aN 


; 
Sprir4: 


Annette accomplished this just after she had heard the Russian Opera 
Company sing the “The Snow Maiden.” Annette is musical, but almost 
too eager to please the class; hence the popular quality of the melody. 
It is eharacteristic of her in other respects. She wrote a rather good 
accompaniment for it, 


Two gifted pupils of the high school have written their first songs 
for our May Day. They are so far beyond any ordinary childish melody- 
making that they are not representative of school work, and so do not 
belong in a collection of this sort. 


76 


IN MELODY Lh, 


There are in these little songs time-worn modulations, con- 
ventional musical figures, and popular emotional colorings and man- 
nerisms. Originality is of course rare. However, in “Hellas” 
there is true creative power. There were the wonderful activities 
of a year of work on the life of Greece under Jennie Hall, and 
the immediate need of a song for the slave to sing in the play. 
The text of the song was written by one member of the group 
at home, and the melody by about ten children working together. 
They were not the most musical ones, but a group selected because 
they were stirred by the verses and the situation. They were 
vague, hesitant, but very serious. The teacher wrote down the 
little song, phrase by phrase, as they sang it to her. They were 
totally unaware of its real quality, which only came out when sung 
by a musical little girl with a delicate elegiac quality in her voice. 

The attention of teachers who are not used to analyzing the 
meaning and feeling of music is called to the following points in 
piiellac.” 

a. The initial phrase has true feeling for the speech melody 

of the words, with the natural accentuation of the 
words preserved perfectly. 

b. The second phrase gives the intensification suggested 

by the words, and the exactly right rhythm. 
c and d. together. These two phrases are charmingly 
expressive of the longing in the words. Notice the 
fall of the melodic line at the end of d. 
e. The repetition of the tones at “far stretching fields” 
is very expressive, and the whole last phrase forms a 
close that is most musical and appropriate. 
The little tune has complete coherence, and it fits perfectly the 
dramatic situation for which it was composed. 

In “The Buccaneer” we have musical ideas very adequately if 
not very beautifully expressed; in “Twirl and Turn” there is grace 
and appropriateness ; “Lo, When We Wade the Tangled Wood” is 
a remarkably serious effort, with true if not very original musical 
feeling for the text; “Yo Ho, Yé Lusty Winds” and “The Mer- 
chantman” have good, vigorous, boyish rhythm and musical ideas. 

The difficulty of finding good texts is great, and we use the 
same one as often as we like. The chief values of this work in 
the pupil’s education are probably three: namely, the opportunity 


78 CREATIVE EFFORT 


to express musical ideas and feeling under strong motive, the dis- 
covery and clarification of vague musical imagery, and pleasure in 
the appreciation of others; in short, the interest of creation, how- 
ever crude. There are also various bi-products which are all more 
or less important; as, for instance, sight reading and dictation, the 
proper use of musical terms, definite attention to appropriateness 
of rhythm, melodic line, key and key changes, and vital matters 
of form and taste. 

It is, I presume, unnecessary to state that the songs which are 
presented here are intended merely to show the results of our ex- 
periments under a variety of conditions. With the exception of 
“The Buccaneer,” which proved a popular song for older boys, 
and the songs for the third grade play, we have never sung any 
of them in the school after the occasion has passed for which they 
were written. 


CREATIVE EFFORT—IN MELODY 
(The Younger Children) 


The younger children create melodies for the joy of singing a 
poem they have made or read. The song they make is always a 
spontaneous expression of something that comes from a rich back- 
ground, usually in their grade or group work, sometimes in 
their home experience. Some children in the class have more initia- 
tive than others, some more musical ideas; but those who have 
musical ideas are not always able to express them. The songs are 
written on the board by the teacher. Very often one child sings 
a complete tune, and again many children sing different tunes for 
the same phrase. Since the whole class have the same motive or 
interest in making the song, the whole class take part in accepting, 
rejecting, or criticising the tune. Sometimes the whole tune is re- 
jected; sometimes a few phrases will sound well or seem to the 
children to express the feeling of the poem. With these phrases, 
which are saved for another lesson, we begin to create another 
melody. Very often an unmusical child is so filled with the idea of 
making a tune for his grade play and becomes so enthusiastic that 
he suddenly sings a phrase which is immediately accepted by the 
group. 


IN MELODY 79 


Such creative work is done in all the lower grades whenever an 
occasion arises. 

A second grade had read the story of the early herdsmen. The 
people were leaving the pits in the valley where they had spent the 
winter and were going with the flocks to the foothills for summer 
feeding. When it became hard for the people to keep together along 
the road, the leader, Many-dogs, to encourage them, would often 
beat on his drum or sing: 


“We are going to the foothills, 
We are going to the foothills. 
That is a good place to dwell.” 


The people following him answer: 


“Yes, we are going to the foothills, 

We are going to the foothills. 

That is a good place to dwell. 

Yes, we have turned our backs to the dark vailey. 
We have turned our faces to the light.” 


The children were so impressed by the rhythm and appro- 
priateness of these words that they wanted to sing them. One 
child sang this complete tune: 





foot hills, That I$ @ Qood place To dwell 


The children immediately suggested that the whole group repeat 
the tune, just as the followers of Many-dogs did. 


80 CREATIVE EFFORT 


At another time this same group was making flour, using a 
mortar and pestle which they had made themselves. When the 
pestle was pounded into the big mortar (a large log hollowed out), 
a thrilling sound was made. The rhythm suggested the words, and 
as different children took turns swinging the pestle, spontaneously 
they began to sing. The steady pounding suggested a repetition of 
the same phrases, with not so much variety of tune. 





fes.tte, pes-The pound the grain, Mothers mak vig bread for us. 


The fourth grade children had been reading “Men of Old 
Greece,” and were stirred by Miss Hall’s story of the battle of 
Salamis. An unused table in the room, and clay, suggested to them 
that they make the setting for the battle of Salamis. Quickly 
with rocks and clay they built up the mainland, with the Persians 
about Xerxes overlooking the sea, where between Salamis and the 
mainland lay the Greek and Persian ships. On Salamis were put 
the Greek friends and sympathizers. The making and painting of 
the Greek and Persian ships was fascinating work. Then, with- 
out organization or preconceived plans, children took the part of 
Themistocles, Greek captains, Aristides, and began half to dramatize 
with the stage settings, half to talk and imagine the scenes. It had 
vitality; they enjoyed it. Then some one said, “Let’s choose and 
write parts and really play it.’ This they did. At the end of the 
play a little girl said that she could write a hymn of victory that 
the Greeks could shout aloud as Xerxes was driven off. Two other 


IN MELODY 81 


little girls liked the idea. The next day three poems came in. One 
of these was more lyric than the others. This the whole class 
wanted to set to music. 





tharnl<s for many blessin9$, Fir praises to the gods. 


CREATIVE EFFORT—DRAMATIZING 
MOTHER GOOSE RHYMES 


Impersonation and acting, story-telling and play-making, are 
instinctive in children, and each year the significance of the 
dramatic urge is more appreciated by teachers, and more widely 
and intelligently used in the education of young people. It 
is not a case of introducing something new into the schools. The 
dramatic instinct entered the door with the child, and can no more 
be excluded and ignored than can the child’s hands and feet. This 
dramatic tendency, rightly used, has a large place in the develop- 
ment of the human capacities. It is indissolubly connected with the 
exercise and the functioning of the creative imagination. 

The utilization of the dramatic tendency in the teaching of 
literature should begin in the kindergarten and continue throughout 
the child’s literary journey. It is not the writer’s purpose to dis- 
cuss here the psychology of the dramatic instinct.* His object is 
to tell briefly how he has utilized some of the “Mother Goose” 
rhymes in the direction and cultivation of the dramatic tendency in 
children, and in the fostering of their play-making tendencies, 
“Mother Goose” has been chosen because these rhymes and jingles 
comprise the first literary units that come into the child’s literary 
experience, and because the dramatic tendency at this early period 
of the child’s development has had little chance for contamination 
through misuse and misdirection. There is neither time nor need 
in this article to go into the merits of “Mother Goose,” to expatiate 
upon the place held by these little gems of versification, these 
glimpses into life, these (in many cases) well nigh perfect ex- 
amples of art. Where does one get a deeper, more terse bit of 
philosophical comment than “Humpty Dumpty?’ A single mis- 
take, one downfall, and no human aid—not even that which to hu- 
man sense stands for the highest authority and power—can set 
things right again. ‘‘Not all the King’s horses, nor all the King’s 
men, could set Humpty Dumpty up again.” Needless to say, to 
the child the philosophical values are and should be nil, but every 


*A full discussion of the subject will be found in ‘‘Plays and Playmaking in the 
Elementary and Secondary Schools,” by John Merrill and Martha Fleming. 


82 


IN DRAMATIZING 83 


art creation has in it elements of universal appeal, something to 
meet the growing needs of the childlike receptive thought of young 
and old. 

It must be admitted at once that most of the “Mother Goose” 
rhymes and jingles serve their purpose in the experience of the 
child when the child has heard the rhyme frequently enough to 
catch the music of the rhythm, cadence, alliteration, and other 
subtleties which go to make up their poetry. A few of the poems, 
however, contain a story element which makes excellent material 
for dramatization and for the exercise of creative effort. The de- 
velopment of the dramatic instinct and the true teaching of liter- 
ature go hand in hand. In each of the “Mother Goose” rhymes 
which contains a narrative idea, one finds a short literary art unit 
that is of the right size and content to meet the play-making needs 
of little children. 

In view of the limited scope of this article, let us proceed to 
give some illustrations of the way in which a “Mother Goose” 
rhyme containing a real dramatic situation can be elaborated into 
a little play by kindergarten or first grade children. 

“Little Miss Muffet” is always a great favorite with the chil- 
dren, and is one of the first rhymes to be presented. The reasons 
for its popularity are not hard to see—all have had an experience 
comparable to Miss Muffet’s. She has been given a much liked 
food, has seated herself on a grassy mound, and is about to enjoy 
her feast when a spider comes and sits down beside her. Filled 
with fear, she leaves the untasted food and rushes away. The situa- 
tion is essentially dramatic and deals with the fundamental emo- 
tions of joy and fear. The play is told with simple, significant de- 
tails which lead up to a definite crisis, and which conclude in a 
logical dénouement. It is a veritable cameo in its perfect technique. 

How should the story be presented? Doubtless the children 
have heard it many times before coming to school; nevertheless, it 
is well to motivate the story before the rhyme is repeated to the chil- 
dren. One cannot lay down a set way of leading up to the presenta- 
tion of a piece of literature. The presentation varies with the class, 
the time, and the teacher. One hesitates to give an illustration, 
lest someone will attempt to follow the letter and lose sight of the 
spirit. Devices are of slight value, but principles are fundamental 
and eternal. Without doubt, it is wise to direct and focus the at- 


84 CREATIVES EP PO REL 


tention of children before presenting any piece of literature. The 
writer always attempts to build up a proper background, create a 
proper mood, and prepare for any unusual words or terms. Fail- 
ure to understand a word frequently prevents a child from getting 
the author’s idea. For example, a little child who had just re- 
peated “There was a crooked man,” was asked what a stile is. He 
replied, “It is what mother says her new dress has.” Play is the 
child’s mode of study, so we approach the study of Miss Muffet 
through the portal of play. We may begin with an imaginary 
luncheon, then lead the children by easy and natural steps to recall 
the fun they have had in the summer eating their luncheon alone 
on the lawn under a tree. When the moment is right, the story of 
Miss Muffet is told. The name is not given, and the exact words 
of the rhyme are not used at this recital of the story. It may be 
told in some such manner as this: “A little girl’s mother gave her 
a bowl of something which she very much liked. The mother told 
her she might go into the garden to her favorite seat on the lawn 
and there eat her luncheon. While the little girl was tasting the 
food a great spider came and sat down beside her. . . .” and so the 
tale runs on to its close. The children soon recognize the story of 
“Little Miss Muffet.” ‘They are all eager to tell the tale in’ 1s 
rhythmic form and are allowed so to do. They are eager also to 
play it, and this impulse is gratified. When the rhyme has been 
repeated and a number have played it, there is likely to be a stagna- 
tion of interest unless the children’s eagerness to tell similar ex- 
periences of their own with spiders is recognized and they are given 
an opportunity to express themselves. 

When they have given vent to their desire to relate their own 
adventures, have told the story in rhyme, and have played it, what 
is the next step? Is it wise to leave it and go no further? Cer- 
tainly not. It is wise to go on until the children have got from 
the rhyme all that they are capable of getting at that time. But 
what is the next step? Recalling to mind the children’s first act- 
ing of the story reveals the fact that it was primarily pantomimic; 
that there was a noticeable lack of dialogue, and very little char- 
acterization. A larger sense of characterization will lead to some 
slight use of dialogue. Our next step, then, is the development 
of a sense of characterization. This will come through the further 
development of the story. Children will attend to a story as long 


IN DRAMATIZING 85 


as it continues to develop. The next duty, then, is to see to it that 
the story shall continue to develop for each member of the class. 
Now, every vivid impression tends to find an outlet in expression, 
and the fuller and the more vivid the expression the more likeli- 
hood there is that the impression will remain. To illustrate: When 
the attention of the child has been attracted and his interest aroused, 
there follows a very lively image or mental picture. The child then 
has an impulse to give some expression to this mental picture. He 
may give it pantomimic expression, or vocal expression, or he may 
attempt to express it by means of a drawing, or give it some physi- 
cal embodiment, as in clay. The fuller the expression, the more 
permanent the idea. The very act of expression causes the in- 
dividual to realize the points of cloudiness in his impression, tends 
to make him return to the mental impression and exercise closer 
observation. This closer observation is possible because the act 
of expression has clarified the thought and left the mind free for 
restimulation and for a larger and more truthful impression. Re- 
impressed, the individual is ready for a new expression of the fuller 
mental picture.* As this process goes on, characterization de- 
velops and dialogue begins. 

It must always be borne in mind that the children of the 
kindergarten and first grade are in a pantomimic stage of devel- 
opment; they are primarily interested in things as wholes; they get 
large general impressions, and express themselves in terms that to 
the adult seem extremely hazy and sketchy, but which to them are 
full and significant. Children of the first grade are in somewhat 
the same stage of development as the Egyptians were when they 
conceived and made the great pyramids. Dramatic expression in 
the first grade is largely in terms of pantomime, and without much 
dialogue, and of broad sketchy characterization which lays stress 
on the large, obviously significant details. 

Having digressed to lay stress upon the science of expression, 

*Warren in ‘‘Elements of Human Psychology” states: ‘‘The two essential factors 
in memory (and in imagination as well) are attention and revival.’”? Colonel Parker, in 
his “Talks on Pedagogics,’” has said that ‘‘attention and expression are the two pro- 


cesses of human action which have most tq do with the evolution of the human race.” 
Expression he defines as “The manifestation of thought and emotion through the body 


by means of physical agents.” ‘‘Attention and expression, together, are the action and 
reaction of the whole being in mental and bodily movements,” and ‘‘are organically re- 
lated by motive’’ Observation and expression are, then, indissolubly connected, and 


science and art should go hand in hand throughout the process of education. The more 
lively the child’s interest or motive, the closer his observation, and the fuller the emotion, 
the more likelihood there is that the child will use all his available avenues of expres- 
sion. The act of expressing the mental picture prepares the way for the reception of a 
fuller mental impression and a consequent more adequate expression. 


86 CREATIVE EFFORT 


let us return to the teaching of “Miss Muffet.” When the story 
has been presented as a whole; when it has been said by some of 
the class, perhaps by all in unison; and when it has been acted by 
a few of the children, the next step is to give every child a chance 
to express himself in terms of action. To allow everyone to act in 
front of the class would take too long; to allow a large portion of 
the class to leave their seats at one time would only result in con- 
fusion. Fortunately the need for general participation can fre- 
quently be met by having the children at their seats act a detail of 
the story or a related detail. (It must be borne in mind that this 
in no way takes the place of the acting of the whole story in groups 
at the proper time.) To illustrate: The teacher, assisted by some 
of the children, may pretend to give to each one of the class a 
bowl of curds and whey and a spoon; then together they have a 
jolly play feast. Next, perhaps, the teacher and pupils play spiders, 
spin webs, travel about the room. Gradually a suggestion of the 
spider’s movement is seen—this was entirely lacking in the first 
acting. Through these and similar devices all of the children are 
brought into the play. Habits of study are developed; through ex- 
pression the thinking of the children is clarified, and their minds 
are made ready for a fuller appreciation of the dramatic situation ; 
moreover, the first steps in the development of characterization are 
made. From this stage of development, the children can be led 
to the initial step in the use of dialogue, which is the next con- 
sideration. They take turns, perhaps, in playing mother, select 
someone in the class and surprise him with an imaginary dish of 
some much-liked food. This play necessitates the choosing of some 
particular food, the calling of it by name, and the offering of it by 
some one of the children. The use of conversation is most simple, 
but it is a natural and valuable step in the development of dramatic 
play. Such games will help to destroy self-consciousness and give 
an opportunity and necessity for conversation, and so prepare for 
the use of dialogue needed in the acting of “Little Miss Muffet.” 
Che wise teacher will find that there are many ways in which the 
child’s horizon can be broadened, many legitimate ways in which 
he can be given opportunity for expression and be made ready for 
closer observation and fuller expression. After this detailed work, 
the story is again played. 


IN DRAMATIZING 87 


The children of the kindergarten and first grade have very 
little power to sustain characterization. The sense of being a spider, 
for example, is so new and strange that the child forgets all about 
the part he is playing and is conscious only of his own feelings, and 
stops to enjoy the novel sensation. These are the growing joys 
and not the growing pains that accompany the development of the 
aesthetic and dramatic sense, and the strengthening of the person- 
ality to take in the larger world, for, “All experience is an arch 
where thro’ gleams” the “untravell’d world.” Young children can- 
not attend for any great length of time, so the teacher should not 
dwell long enough at one time to tire them. In the first grade the 
teacher frequently can dwell upon a “Mother Goose” rhyme twenty 
or twenty-five minutes for two or three, perhaps three or four days, 
in succession. The children will be glad to come back now and 
then to the story, and will love to recite it, play it, draw it, and 
model it a number of times; they will be interested just as long as 
the story continues to develop or unfold for them. The teacher’s 
duty is to know how to choose a story that is worthy of presenta- 
tion, and how to create the right atmosphere. He must be sure of 
the steps by which the child grows into the fullest appreciation of 
a piece of art, and must intuitively know when to stop work upon 
a story and when to return to it. 

“Little Miss Muffet,’ taught in a proper manner, increases the 
child’s power of observation, strengthens his will, helps him to 
master fear, stimulates the dawning feeling for rhythm, and exer- 
cises his emotions wholesomely. There is no danger in this ex- 
pression of emotion, because it has an adequate cause. Emotion 
should never be used for mere entertainment; it should never be 
aroused without a definite and legitimate background. Emotion 
will not be too strong if used under full control for real things. 
Hugh Ralcy Bell declares that ‘there can be no friction between 
the expression of a sane emotion and the rational rise of knowl- 
edge.” .... “Wisdom and emotion work together in all their 
higher phases when expression is the function of intellectuality.” 
In the word expression we have the crux of the whole matter. 
Educational methods have rarely given full opportunity for that 
sort of expression that has intellect, will, and emotion, all cooperat- 
ing in the act of realizing some absorbing, vital, social idea. 


88 CREATIVE EFFORT 


It may appear that the writer has spent an unconscionably 
long time upon these first steps, but he is convinced that he is justi- 
fied in so doing. This first stage of development is the most im- 
portant of all. If the foundations are wrong, no matter how care- 
fully one may build the superstructure, it is bound to be weak and 
unserviceable. 

Another rhyme that lends itself to dramatization is 


“Jack be nimble, 
Jack be quick, 
Jack jump over 
The candle-stick.” 


This little poem cannot be acted until it presents a dramatic situa- 
tion to the children’s minds. First the children see only a boy 
named Jack jumping over a candle-stick. If they act out the 
rhyme, the action is largely physical—that is, pantomimic—and 
with but little dialogue, either original or taken from the poem. 
If their natural desire to talk about the poem is given free rein, 
someone will wonder and ask, “Who says, ‘Jack be nimble’?” Then 
another one will perhaps say, “Why, it’s the father sending Jack 
off to bed.” “Why does he tell him to jump over the candle-stick ?” 
“Because Jack is sleepy; the father wishes to awaken him so that 
he can find his way upstairs; his father knows that jumping over 
the candle-stick will rouse Jack.’’ And so in some such manner and 
in some such conversation the children create an imaginary story 
and connect the incidents of the rhyme with human experience. 
After this when they play the little poem it has a real dramatic 
quality. One child is the father, perhaps reading the evening paper ; 
Jack sits beside his father dozing; the mother is preparing Jack’s 
bed. She calls for Jack. No reply. Then she calls to the father 
to send Jack upstairs. The father looks at Jack, sees he is almost 
asleep, and says 


“Jack be nimble, 
Jack be quick, 
Jack jump over 
The candle-stick.” 


Because it is said with a purpose, this little poem now is given by 
the one who is playing the father with genuine meaning—he is 


IN DRAMATIZING 89 


the father for the time being; he is thinking in personal terms, and 
only by thinking in personal terms do ideas evolve and become 
valuable in one’s development. Jack rubs his eyes, picks up the 
candle-stick, makes his way upstairs, and his mother puts him to 
bed. Dramatic expression of some similar nature works out in the 
children’s own free and spontaneous thinking. 

In a large class it is not possible each day to give every child 
an opportunity to play a part all the way through, and yet there 
must be ample opportunities for each child to express himself 
through voice and bodily movements; otherwise, his ideas never 
fully function but like all fleeting impressions quickly disappear. 
In order to secure ample opportunities for all to express themselves, 
the whole class is frequently invited to “make believe” without 
leaving their places. For example: The teacher asks the class 
to pretend that it is nearly bed time; that they have played with 
their toys until they are tired; that they are so sleepy that they 
can hardly keep their eyes open. “Now, let us make believe to 
fall asleep,’ the teacher suggests. The children quickly enter 
into the game and suit the action to the word. Or the teacher may 
say, “Make believe that you are Jack waking up.” The teacher, 
playing with the class, pretends to be the father, and calls to them 
to awaken. The children rub their eyes, yawn, and show other 
signs of waking. 

Through this playing of an incident of the story the children 
develop a sense of characterization, and the self-conscious ones act 
freely because they have no fear of being observed by their fellows. 

It is an excellent idea to have half of the class act while the 
other half observes. To illustrate: The teacher may say, “J am 
going to invite the children on this side of the room to play that 
they are father reading the newspaper. The children on the other 
side of the room may see which one seems most like a man enjoy- 
ing his evening paper.” 

In this fashion, and in similar ways, the children—after a 
group or several groups have played the story as a whole—are led 
to concentrate upon the parts of the story, and by the general use 
of pantomimic characterization all are led to study intensively the 
parts of the story, and to give them expression. A replaying of 
the whole story should follow this detailed work, because the chil- 
dren’s last impression should be of the story as a unified whole. 


90 CREATIVE EFFORT 


The dramatic instinct finds perhaps its fullest flowering and 
its richest function when it creates, weaving ideas into newly 
created designs. Memory recalls ideas related as they were in 
actual experience. Creative imagination arranges remembered ideas 
in new and original patterns. The artist arranges these ideas into 
patterns which have significance, proportion, unity, and beauty. 

“Hey! Diddle Diddle” is a delightful “Blue Bird” sort of fan- 
tasy. We all love to picture a world with fewer limitations than 
those now seemingly imposed upon mortals. The little poem is full 
of delightful suggestions and opportunities for plot-making and for 
characterization. One class of first grade youngsters imagined that 
the poem “Hey! Diddle Diddle” pictured a situation very much 
like this: A more or less sedate cat and dog, and a thoroughly 
sedate cow—to say nothing of the usually inactive plate and spoon 
—weary of their quiet and uneventful life, threw off all restraint 
as soon as their master and mistress were abed and asleep, and in 
the freedom of the night and under cover of the dark, held merry 
gambols in the open. 

The children of their own initiative created and acted, with 
constant variations, a little play of which the following is a rough 
scenario: A father and mother, one summer’s night, shut up the 
house preparatory to retiring. The cat and dog were put out of 
doors because of the mildness of the weather. The cow, owing to 
the absence of all signs of rain, was allowed to remain in the field. 
The mother placed on the table a dish and spoon in order that the 
breakfast could be prepared speedily in the morning. The father 
closed the doors and put out the lights. When the man and woman 
were sound asleep, the cat brought out her fiddle from its hiding 
place and amused herself playing a lively dance tune. The music 
was so gay and irresistible that the cow was unable to refrain from 
dancing, and finally became so excited that she tried to jump over 
the moon. The little dog entered into the fun, barking loudly to 
show his delight. The dish, unable to remain quietly in its place, 
bounded from the table, jumped through an open window, ran into 
the garden, and joined the merrymakers. The spoon, unwilling to 
be left alone, followed the dish. When the merrymaking was at 
its height, the sun appeared in the east. Immediately the moon 
waned, the cow, the cat, and the dog settled down, and the dish 
and the spoon returned to their places. The father and mother 


IN DRAMATIZING 9] 


arose. They recalled having heard a disturbance in the nighi. 
They looked about but found everything in order. The cat and 
the dog were asleep; the cow browsing in the field. They finally 
concluded that they had dreamed hearing the strains of a fiddle ac- 
companied by the barking of a dog and other unusual sounds. 

“Hickory, Dickory, Dock” is another Mother Goose rhyme 
which, when it takes hold of the imagination of the children, fre- 
quently leads them to elaborate it into a little play. The writer, 
while teaching in Peterboro, New Hampshire, one summer, used 
it with some of the very young children. The writer told the story 
with a dramatic setting which a group of Chicago children had 
worked out in much the same manner as the dramatization of 
“Hey! Diddle Diddle.’ It was the custom in the Peterboro School 
for the teachers to note daily the purpose of each recitation, the 
method used, and the results obtained. The following quotation 
from the author’s records may be of value. 


AUGUST |! 
Group I 
Purpose: To develop the story of “Hickorv, Dickory, Dock” for the 
class. 


Method: I attempted first of all to create a dramatic feeling which 
would make fertile soil for the story when told, and which would 
bear fruit in the form of whole-hearted, intelligent expression. I 
began by asking what sort of a clock they would like to own. All 
preferred clocks which struck the hours. I then pretended that I 
desired to purchase a clock—one that would strike the hours so 
that I could hear it all over my large house. I played that the 
children were clocks. I wound them to hear them strike. In this 
way I got every one into the game immediately and completely. 
We then had a store, with clocks, a store-keeper, customers, ex- 
pressmen, etc. Then we sat down and I told the story of a man 
who purchased a new clock just as we had done. I told them when 
the man got the clock home and when every one had gone to bed, 
something gray, with sharp bright eyes, came out of a wee hole, 
and saw that new clock. The children guessed that the wee gray 
thing was a mouse, looking for food. I then told them how the 
mouse, imagining that the new clock might be a cupboard, climbed 
eagerly up the clock. Just when the mouse was at the very top 
the clock struck the hour. The poor mouse filled with fear ran 
down as fast as his little legs would carry him and fled down a hole 
to tell his family of his terrible adventure. 

We then played that we were mice, running up a clock, hunting 
for food. 

Remarks: The result seemed most satisfactory, 


92 CREATIVE EFFORT 


D hesitates to take unknown steps, but when she once feels sure 
of what is to be done, enters most heartily into the game. 


AUGUST 2 

Group I 

Purpose: To continue the study of “Hickory, Dickory, Dock” through 
keener understanding and fuller expression. 

Method: 1. Retelling of the story. (The return of S gave added mo- 
tive for telling the story, and led to a fresh interest.) Because of 
limited time I told the major part of the story, and those who had 
heard it the day before acted as an efficient chorus. 

2. Said the story in rhyme. 

3. The children said it. Those who did not know it very well 
said it in chorus. Some of their own accord swung to the rhythm as 
they recited it. 

4. We then played the entire story in much the same manner 
as on the previous day. The interest seemed to center on the mouse 
rather than on the clock. I used this interest to draw out the chil- 
dren’s knowledge of mice; their habits; ways of getting food; their 
enemies; means of protection, etc. I strove to correlate and fix 
these facts by the making up of simple situations which would call 
for the expression of these habits which they had observed. We 
had, for example, mice seeking cheese at night, and being pursued 
by vigilant old cats. 

5. Our fifth step was the playing of these simple situations 
which helped to develop our understanding of the characters in 
the story. 

6. We completed the physiological circuit of impression and 
expression and brought our recitation to a unified close by playing 
the whole story. 

Remarks: The making up of original related incidents helped to de- 
velop impersonation by adding details. At first the mice merely 
ran out of their holes and ran back, but after thoughtful considera- 
tion, and the pooling of the children’s knowledge of mice, the im- 
personation began to develop. They sought better homes; one got 
under the table, another in the waste paper basket; they cautiously 
poked their heads out and peered about for signs of danger; sniffed 
for the odor of cheese; listened carefully for indications of the 
proximity of their enemy, the cat. Then came the quick run for 
the cheese; the frightened pell mell rush for their holes when the 
cat appeared; the pantings of fear when they realized how narrow 
their escape had been. 

F showed indications of creative imagination and _ initiative. 
He completed the story of the rhyme by taking his family and 
moving to a new house where there were no cats or tall clocks. 


S knew the rhyme, and when invited to say it for us rattled 
off mere words. We all then said the rhyme together trying to 


IN DRAMATIZING 93 


make every one see every picture. With our hands we followed 

the movement of the mouse from his hole and back again, “suiting 

the action to the word, and the word to the action,” thus getting 
the right tempo. S said the rhyme again for us, adding the pic- 
tures to the rhythm which he had given at his first recital. 

I am confident that teachers who use this most vital dramatic 
instinct should have a knowledge of its psychology, of its phases 
of manifestation and their order and significance. The real value of 
playing stories is lost frequently because of this lack of knowledge 
on the teacher’s part, and because the manifestations of dramatic 
feeling are not developed and directed into definite channels which 
aid the child in the education of his whole mind and body. The 
teacher should lead the pupil to the fullest expression of which he 
is capable at the moment, emotion, intellect, and will combining and 
balancing in the service of a definite, interesting, and worthy pur- 
pose. 

Perhaps enough examples have been given to indicate how in 
the lowest grades the dramatic tendency can be used in the teach- 
ing of literature and in the development of creative expression. 
Among the other “Mother Goose” rhymes which lend themselves 
to dramatization are “Old King Cole,” “Little Boy Blue,’ “There 
Was a Man in Our Town,” “Ding, Dong, Bell,’ “Humpty Dumpty,” 
“Jack and Jill,” “Simple Simon Met a Pieman,” “Queen of Hearts,” 
“There Was a Crooked Man,” “Three Little Kittens,” and ‘Tom, 
oniethestiper:s Sons, 

The work in dramatization as has already been mentioned, 
should be accompanied by opportunities for the children to ex- 
press the story through drawing, painting, modeling, or some 
other graphic art medium. The sand table often furnishes the chil- 
dren an excellent means for the externalization of their mental 
pictures. It is also well to encourage the children to tell and play 
their stories at home. 

The teacher should not be discouraged if the apparent class- 
room results are slight. Indeed, the teacher will not be discouraged 
if he understands the laws of child-development and if he has been 
working in harmony with the principles of expression. If the 
teaching has been right, the children, when they are by themselves 
and when they think they are unobserved, play their stories with 
all the abandon, intelligence, and true dramatic skill that the teacher 
hoped to get in the class room. 

To approximate the ideal condition for true dramatic and 


94 CREATIVE EFFORT 


creative expression, the class room must supply, as nearly as possi- 
ble, the freedom that is present when the children, wholly self- 
motivated, self-directed, self-expressive, play their story unob- 
served by critical eyes and ears. For this reason costuming has 
little if any place in the dramatizations made in the kindergarten 
and first grade. The unbounded fancy of the children renders cos- 
tume both unnecessary and injurious to their progress. Education 
and not entertainment is the purpose of the work. 

Children should never act their stories before a formal audi- 
ence. This does not mean that they may not with great profit 
share their stories by playing them before other classes or for par- 
ents and close friends, but this acting should be done in a simple, 
natural way, and should be actuated by the desire to share much 
loved stories with others. Applause should not be permitted.* 

It is the custom of the Francis W. Parker School to have the 
children of the first grade, after they have dramatized a number of 
the “Mother Goose” rhymes and jingles, act some of them at the 
regular daily assembly period before their parents and two or three 
other classes of the school. The rhymes are acted in the small 
gymnasium. The audience is limited in size, and is seated about 
a hollow rectangle. The children, without special properties or 
costumes, act their little plays within this hollow rectangle. The 
little actors, free from the conventions of a stage—which requires 
for one thing that the actors consider the audience and turn to- 
ward it when speaking—move about at will and speak and act as 
they are inclined. They place their scene wherever they wish. Two 
or three little benches mark the localities mentioned in the story, 
and the action moves from locality to locality as it did from sta- 
tion to station in the old mediaeval plays where there was neither 
curtain nor special stage setting. 

The necessary brevity of this article has given opportunity for 
little more than an introduction to the subject of play-making, its 
purpose and its scope. The writer hopes that he has at least made 
it clear that play-making, even in the first grade, is indissolubly 
connected with the teaching of literature, and that dramatization 
fosters the growth of the child, furnishing a natural avenue for 
creative effort and social participation. 

*Read Amy Lowell’s introduction to ‘Poems of a Little Girl,’ by Hilda Conkling. 


CREATIVE EFFORT—IN DESIGN 
(The Older Children) 


The art class can offer an unlimited field for creative activity. 

The following example of work done by older children is 
drawn from a first-year high school group.* The group wished to 
give the art room a distinctive air, make it different from other 
class rooms. This idea had been in the mind of the teacher for 
many a day. The art room chairs, low-backed and attractive in 
construction, had been purchased unpainted two years before, look- 
ing forward to a time when just such an inspiration should spring 
forth. The desks were of polished oak and very ugly to look at, 
and the chairs referred to were a light cream color, being merely 
shellaced on the natural wood. The walls and ceiling were white, 
and the woodwork, oak, had been stained a greenish brown origin- 
ally. From this meager description you can get a picture of the 
spotty, ugly place. The proportions of the room are fine, and the 
ceiling is panelled and divided, giving great possibilities for a clever 
design. There are three large windows on the north, and one large 
and two small high ones in an alcove on the west. The lower south 
and east walls are covered with blackboards. 

The children soon realized that this problem required much 
study of color and design. They made plans in the rough, and fin- 
ished some in color. They decided to make the walls an oyster 
grey, the ceiling a pale cream, the woodwork a medium grey rose. 
This was done, and appalled us by what it did to the room, with 
the yellowish chairs and the polished oak tables, We studied to 
find out what was the matter and what was needed to make the 
room livable and beautiful. After much experiment we found 
that we needed a green-blue somewhere to balance the grey-rose, 
and some black. It took a good deal of time and much work to 
plan just where to distribute these colors, to get the best effect, 
but at last it was decided to paint the desks black and the chairs 
black with green-blue seats, to have two black screens with a nar- 


row green-blue edge, and to get a black Japanese vase for the top 


_*The project here described was mentioned in an earlier yearbook. It has seemed 
advisable to discuss it more fully here because it contains a variety of educational 
elements. 


95 


96 CREATIVE EFFORT 


of the cabinet. All this took a very long time to accomplish, doing 
only a few desks at a time. The color scheme proved satisfactory 
and restful, and we were very happy over the result, but not quite 
satisfied. We must have some decoration on the desks and chairs, 
and perhaps elsewhere. 

The class had become interested in magic squares. A teacher 
of mathematics came into the art class and worked out the numbers 
with the children. Then they used the magic lines thus acquired 
as a basis of design. By moving the dots about and rearranging 
them horizontally and diagonally and vertically and combining dif- 


ferent squares, they made many beautiful designs. These were 








All-over pattern in notan done on the magic line of 
eight, finished in pencil 
most of them finished in black and white. Now we went to work 
to see how we could use these ideas in designs for the furniture. 
The plan was particularly interesting to the class, because they 
thought the result not only might be beautiful but would be magic. 
They even went so far as to say that anyone using a chair and a 
desk with such a design on it would be inspired to do wonderful 
work. And so the work and the word grew until the children be- 
came so much interested that they gave a morning exercise on 


IN DESIGN oy. 


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Magic line 
of 4 





Magic Square of 4 Magic Square of 4 


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Magic Square of 8 





Magic line of 


NOTE—The magic square is an arrangement of numbers in the form of squares which 
when added vertically, horizontally, and diagonally give the same sum. The magic line 
upon which the design is based is a line formed by following the numbers in any of the 
squares, in order, from cell to cell, and returning to point one. Mediaeval philosophers, 
astrologers, and eminent mathematicians and artists were greatly interested in the magic 
square and hypercube. Albrecht Diirer introduced a magic square into one of his etch- 
ings called “Melancholia.’”” The magic lines of the magic square are rich in possibilities 
of beautiful design. In India, the magic square is the basis of a design on the gate of 
the fort at Givalior, and has been used for decoration on garments. 


CREATIVE EFFORT 


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Finally each pupil put a design on a table or a 


magic squares. 
Each design was different, 


chair as he wished, in beautiful colors. 
and still the twenty-four were harmonious, because of the similar 
The children put the designs on the chair backs, each 


basis used. 
Then they 


filling the same space, but all using different designs. 
lined them in, and finished with lines on the edges of the seats. 


























The Varied Designs on the Backs of the Chairs—built on magie 
square lines, finished in brilliant colors, and lined 
in with orange 


IN DESIGN 99 


The designs on the desks were of different shapes, but all rather 
small—not larger than five by five inches; they were put on top of 
the desks, anywhere each pupil thought best, sometimes in the 
middle, sometimes on the side. You may notice this in the illus- 
tration. 











Picture Showing the Designs on Two of the Desks 


We also made a panel of tiles for each side of the west al- 
cove. The pupils made in clay a plain tile about six by six inches, 
and cast as many as they needed, in plaster. These were shellaced 
and painted in colors—using the magic square lines of four—and 
an inch moulding enclosed them, painted like the woodwork. The 
blackboards were covered, when not in use, with curtains the color 
of the walls, giving large, restful spaces. The room was really beau- 
tiful and very unusual. The classes loved to come into it for art, 
work or rest, and we noticed that the teachers and children engaged 
the room for gatherings and parties when possible, so we felt that 
our art room was enjoyed by all and was a success. 

The influence of this experience was carried out of school into 
personal things belonging to the pupils. For example, one boy decor- 
ated his desk at home with a magic square design. Several boys 
put designs made on magic square lines on their sailboats and 
canoes. One boy used the magic lines of the “8 square” to make a 
design for a book-plate for his father. Several girls used the squares 


LOO CREATIV Esk ER PORT 


and hypercubes as a basis for embroidery designs to decorate their 
homes. The magic quality and interest in this work spread through 
the school, and many smaller children came to the room to make 
inquiries and find out how to work the squares into designs. We 
had sheets printed with 3, 4, 5, and 8 squares, so that anyone who 
was interested could have one. 

This work gave an opportunity to teach the children design 
and the application of its principles to many everyday problems. 
They found out that balance of color and values, harmony in color 
and values, and interesting relation of spacing lines and masses, 
were equally important in a well-designed costume, a book cover, 
a picture and frame, a house, the furnishing of a room, a well- 
written paper, and many other things. They also discovered that 
many expensive gowns, costly houses, and rare objects of so-called 
art, have few art qualities; that they often lack beautiful con- 
struction as well as decoration. 

It took two years to complete this work on the room. The first 
portion of each year it was necessary to study and experiment in 
design and with various kinds of motifs and units and to learn 
how to adapt design to material and to use color with some degree 
of understanding and taste. It was worth the time, for during 
this study the children gained much in discrimination and feeling 
for the best design and construction and had an opportunity to 
develop their creative ability and to apply it to a practical prob- 
lem. This meant that they acquired a surprisingly large amount of 
technical knowledge and skill, and that they worked with great 
zest and enthusiasm because they were “making” something they 
would all enjoy. 





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102 


CREATIVE EFFORT—IN DRAWING AND PAINTING 
(The Younger Children) 


The longing for creative expression is inherent in everyone. 
With children creating is as natural as speaking, and it is only 
when the pressure of limitations is put upon them that the work 
lacks the spontaneity that is instinctive. Often the request for a 
larger piece of paper comes, indicating the desire for freedom to 
compose in a larger way. To the child, art is largely a matter of 
narration. He loves to play, dramatize, draw, paint, dance, and 
sing. All that is joyous is his life, and art is the reliving of his 
joys. 

If you visit any group of young children who have the free- 
dom to express themselves naturally, you see that which delights 
your soul. I have in mind a group of six- and seven-year-olds 
ready for a painting lesson. They are at the door, all expectant, 
aprons on, pencils in hand. They go down the stairs in a friendly 
group to the little room where they may work undisturbed in spirit, 
and paint lovely pictures. Sometimes all the children know be- 
fore coming what they wish to paint. Often the gay bottles with 
brilliant color stimulate imagination and help the choice of sub- 
ject. There is always a variety of subject: boats with gay sails, 
with green and blue water, automobiles, busses with passengers on 
crowded avenues, houses and trees, gardens, pictures of stories 
that have been made real through dramatization, illustrations of 
experiences in real life. Here is a little girl painting a picture of 
chickens eating sprouted oats. They are white chickens, and they 
are eating the oats that the little girl sprouted in a flower pot with 
red paper around it. A blue sky, a gray wall, and two trees make 
the composition lovely indeed. Another child has made a picture 
with many people in it. The subject required people. As she fin- 
ished, she said, “I put nineteen people in my picture, and they are 
going over the foothills.”* The children in the group stopped their 


*See p. 117. 


103 


104 CREATIVE EFFORT 


work long enough to enjoy the finished picture. It is not unusual 
for a child to say, “I love my picture, don’t you?” It is dear to 
his heart, this piece of worthy work, and it is admired with you 
in an unaffected, honest, impersonal way. 

Can you imagine a school day with no opportunities for cre- 
ative expression? A number of years ago, during the world war, 
a patriotic community thought it wisdom for the children’s art and 
handwork time to be given over to knitting. I visited this school 
at such a time. I shall never forget the spirit of lethargy and quiet 
that I felt when I entered the room. There was not even a story 
read to the children. Surely there is a better and more positive 
patriotism than this! I am sure the knitting, however worthy, was 
not wise at such a sacrifice of spirit. 

Education should provide experiences that would cause the 
child to desire to make that which has to do with beauty. Is not 




















Kalsomine painting by child of 
first grade. These were the first 
Paintings in this material. 


honesty in effort and result the true quality of art? However sim- 
ple it seems it is not easy to place the child in an unbiased atmos- 
phere. He finds himself in an already-made esthetic environment 
that others have selected. Money buys that which formerly had 
to be created. The old-time crafts of spinning, weaving, dyeing, 


IN DRAWING AND ik pee 105 





Eskimo life. Painting by first grade child, 


making furniture by hand, while their origin was for utility, still 
afforded ample opportunity for creative handiwork. This was a 
stimulus to the imagination, and one that the child of to-day lacks. 
The need to make stimulates invention, and thus causes the cre- 
ative imagination to function. 

The problem of art teaching to-day is largely two-fold in its 
difficulty: first the difficulty that children have of making form cor- 
respond to the object, and second the teacher’s dictation of the 
problem. Such dictation is often too rigid for the child’s thinking. 
The teacher feels he must teach the child facts. The argument of 
the world says that the knowing of many facts makes a wise person. 
But can the intellectual alone produce creative work? Does it not 
leave out of consideration the child’s feeling? I have seen children 











Eskimo life. Painting by first grade child, 


106 GEL edad EFFORT 








Kalsomine painting by child of first grade. 


come to a painting lesson so filled with suggestions from an eager 
teacher that it was impossible to secure creative results. A child 
can be made to do a piece of dictated work, but is this the purpose 
of education in its true meaning? Should there not be a turning 
away from immediate results to note the effect of the work on the 
child’s thinking? There is loveliness in an unspoiled child’s honest 
work. This charm of early expression, however, passes all too 
soon. Does this need to be so, or is the fault with our teaching? 
As the child matures, the outward senses are trained, but often the 
finer emotions are neglected. Our world to-day respects the intel- 
lect, but does it fully value the qualities that cannot be exchanged 
for money? In the leading colleges of the land art is non-essential. 
Some schools condemn a child if he is good in the arts but lacking 
in academics, as if the fault of poor academics resulted from good 
work in art. These attitudes commonly held towards an art subject 
may explain why the child’s early creative powers are weakened as 
he grows older. 

All great artists have a childlike spirit. Their attitude toward 
life is simple and direct. They give honest expression to ideas un- 
influenced by popular opinion. This is a mark of greatness. The 


IN DRAWING AND PAINTING 107 


desire for popularity has led many an artist to lose his true sense 
of art so that instead of expressing his own individuality he does 
what is popular at the time. Children sometimes do this too and 
imitate someone whose work appeals to them. It would be well 
to discourage imitation of form and composition. 

The question may be asked, ‘““When can we know that a child’s 
work has the quality of art?” It is natural for children to be 
pleased with what they have made. This is not a complacent state 
of thought but results from having put the whole capacity to the 
work. An illustration was noted one year when a group of third 
graders were making designs for a curtain. The children were 
studying the Norse people and used such material as the courageous 
Norse would have used. When a young child does this kind of a 
problem, he enters into it so feelingly that for the time he has such 
qualities as the heroic Norse had. This is a function of the creative 
imagination. The children had cut Viking ships and dragon heads. 
The best ones were to be chosen for the pattern. When the choos- 
ing time came every child chose his own. For a moment the teacher 
had a shock to meet. She thought the children self-satisfied and 
complacent. But as she looked at the eager faces of the children, 
she realized that each child had done his whole best, and honesty 
in thinking compelled the choice. It would have been dishonest 
for those children to choose another’s work. The problem of choice, 
however, was met by the teacher who told the children that only a 
certain number could be used and asked permission to do the choos- 
ing. That teacher resolved never to put the weight of choice in 
such a matter before young children. If the concept the child has 





“Mopsy.” *Kalsomine painting of pet dog by a seven-year-old child. 


“Spotty.” *Pet hen of the second grade by one of the children, 


108 CREATIVE EFFORT 





Crayon drawing showing shepherd life. 


is realized in his work, it has the quality of art. This, however, 
can only be seen in the child’s response and attitude towards his 
work, The reaction to the work should be a satisfied child. 

I believe it is possible to educate children with such a founda- 
tion that real art will result. Being eager to create and willing to 
recognize the quality of art in others, is true art, is it not? As the 
child grows in judgment he includes others in his mterest. Often 
quite young children appreciate others’ efforts. Confidence takes 
the place of timidity, and with each effort the child learns control 
over the medium. The inspirational nature of such activity is easily 
seen. Technique takes care of itself, and skill develops with the 











Crayon drawing showing shepherd life. 


IN DRAWING AND PAINTING 109 


























Kalsomine paintings cf Greek heroes. The study of Greek history in the 
fourth grade gives rich possibilities for painting. 

















110 CREATIVE EFFORT 





Original drawing made by two children of the fourth grade. Brown manila 
wrapping paper was used, 





The same drawing has been traced on manila paper, shellaced, and cut as a 
stencil. This stencil paper is easier to cut than the heavy oiled variety. 














Application of the stencil on a table runner used in 
the room, The application was made in brown oil 
paint, which makes the fabric washable. 


IN DRAWING AND PAINTING 111 





wap" 

















Valance and curtain made by children of fourth grade, From original 
drawings made into stencils. Four curtains were made, and all children in 
the group helped apply the stencil. The curtains are used in the group 
room. The valance was made by two girls. The curtain was made by 
two boys, 


effort to make what the child really desires to make. Colonel Par- 
ker more than thirty years ago said: ‘The difficulties of technique 
or skill are very much over-estimated. The reason for this over- 
rating is that attempts are commonly made to make forms of ex- 
pression without adequate motive and unimpelled by thought, forms 
that have no thought correspondence.’* 

This is the true reason for the need of correlation. An illus- 
tration was seen last year when a group of fourth graders designed 
stencils for curtains for their group room. The children were 
studying Greek history, and naturally their thoughts were filled with 
activities of the Greeks—with warriors, Greek boats in action, 
chariots drawn by prancing horses, temples. The design selected 
was done by two boys; it was a chariot and charioteer driving two 
spirited horses. The design was made on heavy wrapping paper, 
shellaced and cut. Commercial stencil paper would have been too 
hard to cut. The application was in brown oil paint, which made it 
washable. The valance of the curtain was made by two girls and 
shows a temple and maidens bringing offerings. This work was 


truly Greek in spirit. This piece of work serves to illustrate the 
*“Talks on Pedagogics,” p. 260. 


pz CREATIVE EFFORT 


fact that there must be a need so vital that beauty is the natural 
outcome. At no time did the children weary of the work, but were 
sustained throughout by thought. 

It is the function of art to train the imagination to outward 
expression. This requires an exercise of thought. The ability to 
see mentally a situation present, past, or future is imagination. The 
child visualizes his picture before painting, and it has a definite 
size and shape. Our youngest children are given a choice of size 
of the paper. Sometimes three different sizes are chosen by chil- 
dren in the same group. After the selection has been made the 
children are expected to fit the picture to the size of the paper. 
Even young children have the ability to arrange their drawings so 
that space is well filled. In this way, unconsciously they gain an 
idea of composition and design. 

There is no formal criticism in the younger grades. In the 
sixth grade, however, class criticism is introduced. The children 
are invited to criticize their pictures that have been placed on the 
wall. This criticism is a constructive one, and the child is asked to 
find one good thing in the picture he has chosen to criticize and 
one thing to make it better. It has been found that this is a better 
type of criticism than mere destructive criticism and one less liable 
to hurt a sensitive child. It keeps the tone of the class on the con- 
structive basis. It is a simple matter for the teacher to add any 
remarks left out by the children. There is an alertness that makes 
for good work, and a cooperativeness that unifies the class. 








Greek maiden praying for return 
of Odysseus. Modeled by a fourth 
‘grade girl. See “Creative Effort in 
Clay.” ; 





Linoleum prints made by children of sixth grade, The interest in block- 
printing originated with one boy, who asked to Know 


how block printing 
was done. Others became interested; about two-thirds of the class made 
blocks. The wood shop glued the 


linoleum on the blocks, The printing 
was done in the school print shop. 


113 


EXPLANATION OF THE COLOR PAGES WHICH FOLLOW 


PAGE 115 

Upper half—“Going over the Foot-hills.” The little girl who painted 
the picture said, “I have put nineteen people in my picture, and they 
are going over the foot-hills.” See the article on “Creative Effort in the 
Morning Exercise.” 

Lower half—Indian poster. The poster was made of colored paper. 
A number of posters were made by small groups of third-graders, show- 
ing their interest in their study of early Chicago. 


PAGE 117 

Upper half—Chickens eating sprouted oats. A kalsomine painting 
made by a little girl who had sprouted the oats at home. The flower 
pot had red crépe paper around it. The chickens are pets of the second 
grade. 

Lower half—Boat. First kalsomine painting painted by a member of 
the first grade. The child chose the subject. 


PAGE 119 7 

1. Indian village, Showing child’s concept of forest, wigwams, and 
trails. Painted by a member of the third grade. 

2. Free work. Painted by a seven-year-old boy during his summer 
vacation. 

3. Indian village. Showing child’s emotional feeling. for Indian 
rhythm. Painted by a member of the third grade. It is interesting to 
note, in connection with 1 and 3, that these pictures were painted by two 
children sitting side by side. 

4. Joseph and his brethren. An illustration from Bible stories 
heard in the literature period. Joseph is approaching from the mountain 
carrying lunch for his brothers. The brothers are pointing to the pit 
where Joseph is about to be thrown. Painted by a member of the 
second grade. 

5. The Pied Piper. Painted by a member of the fifth grade. 

6. Sunset. Free painting by a member of the third grade. 


PAGE 121 

Upper half—‘“Knights in Battle.” Painted by two boys of the sixth 
grade. 

Lower half—“The Red-Coats.” Painted by a member of the sixth 
grade during summer vacation, after seeing the movie of “America.” 


PAGE 123 

Six pictures from history notebooks of the sixth grade, showing indi. 
vidual interpretation of the same thought—George Washington and 
Christopher Gist approaching the hut of the French officers at Venango. 
Not all of the children chose this subject from the chapter; some chose 
other incidents. The teacher of the grade requires pictures as well as 
written papers. Most of the inspiration for art comes through _ this 
avenue. 


’ 


114 





115 








117 








119 


r hate 

ihe we Pie de 
Ste PO eS, 
ty i 


La a 
i ay 








121 








123 

















CREATIVE EFFORT—IN CLAY 


Come with me and visit a group of fourth graders ready to 
model things that will interest you and make you question, ‘“Where 
do such ideas come from?” Here are Athene with spear, helmet, 
and shield; Heracles overcoming the lion; Penelope weeping for 
Odysseus; Hermes, messenger of the Gods, skipping on his way ; 
a Greek warrior equipped for battle and victory; a Greek chariot 
and horses that bring to memory the glory of Greece. The children 
are working in earnest, each encouraging his neighbor. Occasion- 
ally two work together combining their powers. There is a spirit 
of friendly interest in the group, and we hear, “I think Pat’s war- 
rior is fine, don’t you?” Nixon has accomplished Heracles over- 
coming the lion to the satisfaction of the group. Paul has found 














126 CREATIVE EFFORT 
































Pet dogs modeled by children of fourth grade, 


a way of making Hermes skip over the waves: he has built a wall 
behind his figure, attaching it so that the wet clay will not fall over. 
Here are dancing nymphs and Greek maidens bearing fruit. 

The visitor who is unacquainted with vigorous original work 
accomplished by children may ask, ‘““Where do they get such ideas?” 
In this instance it was brought about by their interest in history. 
The modeled figures represented the heroic qualities of the noble 
Greeks. The children were too immature to understand a study of 
form from the standpoint of anatomy, and yet they modeled figures 
with ease and delight. The work shows a nobility of thought such 
as the Greeks had: qualities of fearlessness, courage, and beauty. 

These figures were fired but not glazed, and this gave them a 
natural flesh color. It is right that children have the satisfaction of 


i) 
is 


INCRE ALY, 1 





Hermes skipping over the water. The model shows how the child sup- 
ported the figure with a wall. 


Pat's Warrior. 
Greek maiden carrying fruit. 


seeing their work come to a successful completion when effort has 
been made. Success is a stimulus for greater effort. The confi- 
dence and power the children gain in this work is of greater value 
than the outward expression. 

Clay is a simple medium, needing only the hands for tools. 
There is minimum resistance in the plastic material. We can make 














Greek warrior and chariot. Modeled by boy in fourth grade, 


CREATIVE EFFORT 











Penelope, weeping for the return of Odysseus, 


























Heracles overcoming the lion. 
eled by a 


Mod- 


Potter at the wheel. Modeled by a 
nine-year-old boy. member of fourth grade after a trip 


to Lewis Institute, Pottery Depart- 
ment. 


INSGUAY 129 


clay do what we wish, for as the slight resistance is overcome, the 
idea is seen. This indicates the importance of having an idea clearly 
in mind before handling the material. At first the child expresses 
something he loves; he often models a pet. This year we have a 
variety of pet dogs. It is natural for children to make something 
they love. This loving thought and planning is the basis of art, and 
we see the result, a designed piece of work. Is it not art to do 
a piece of work without hope of reward but for the joy of doing? 
It is essential that material be used in its completeness. To do this 
requires designing. This is true in drawing and painting as well 
as in modeling. It may be asked, “How can a child have an idea 
of design when he has such a limited use of form?” Let us re- 
member that the normal child has freedom as his uppermost 
thought. The finest emotions act as a stimulus for expression and 
may produce form that has beauty, line, and rhythm. 











Head of girl, modeled by Gloria of 
fourth grade. This was her first 
attempt to model a head, 





Viking shields made in the wood shop by pupils of the fifth grade in 
eonnection with their study of Viking history. The designs were worked 
out and applied in the art classes. 





130 


CREATIVE EFFORT IN THE SHOP 


The Utilitarian Urge 


Each year when our eighth grade meets for the first time the 
pupils are confronted with a miscellaneous assortment of desks, 
chairs, and tables, which, the teacher explains, will have to serve 
until each pupil can make a desk for himself. The shop teacher is 
called in, and there ensues a class discussion concerning the rela- 
tive merits of various past models and possibilities of their im- 
provement. 

As the desks are needed at the earliest practicable time, and 
since eighth grade pupils can have had but a limited shop experi- 
ence upon which to postulate a practicable creative image, it be- 
comes incumbent upon the shop teacher to make clear just what 
kinds of desks are possible of construction by the pupils, and to 
analyze briefly those elements of strength and beauty that should 
be revealed in the construction. These constructional elements, 
along with such individual features as book shelves and foot rests, 
are the materials which the pupils attempt to organize into the con- 
cept of a desk. Drawings are made and also scale models of paper 
and thin wood. Finally the shop teacher selects the two or three 
designs that are possible of construction by the entire class, a vote 
is taken, and the chosen design is adopted as a model. 

It seems needless to add that the great majority of designs sub- 
mitted are far too involved in their construction to be suited to the 
skill of the average pupil. Indeed it is the rare pupil who has 
sufficient understanding of his own limited skill to design a desk 
that can be made by himself and his classmates. Nevertheless, 
while the desk finally chosen must reflect to a large extent the 
knowledge and creative skill of the shop teacher, there is a decided 
gain to the pupils from their attempt to comprehend the various 
elements of size, proportions, strength, methods of construction, and 
individual details, and relate them into a practicable concept. 


131 ee ein Neha 


132 CREATIVE EFFORT 


In this particular desk the problem of design is vastly simpli- 
fied by arbitrary physical conditions. The size, of the desk is prac- 
tically determined by available room space, and its height by the 
size of the pupil. Its general type and method of construction has 
been fixed by the shop instructor on the basis of his knowledge of 
the pupils’ shop ability. All of this restricts the creative faculties 
of the pupils to a narrow field, but results in a definite plan fully 
worked out before the pupils enter the shop. 

As a problem the desk offers important advantages for im- 
parting shop information and developing tool skill, habits of order, 
and the ability to think in terms of standardized shop processes. 
For all instructional purposes the class is a unit. Each pupil is 
making a desk of the same design. Each pupil is impelled by the 

















Desks made by eighth grade pupils; the form, proportions, and con- 
struction were dictated by definitely utilitarian ends. 


IN THE SHOP 133 


same motive—the need for a desk. From the time of its inception 
until its final completion in the shop the desk moves forward by 
definite stages, the success of which can each be measured by some 
shop principle or tool or by reference to the original model. Square 
corners, surfaces smoothly planed, joints well fitted, stain evenly 
applied—these are the essentials which absorb the attention of the 
pupil. The definite model he is copying provides him with a guide 
which in its execution makes the minimum demand upon his judg- 
ment, except in the selection of materials and the use of tools. Cre- 
ative thought in this problem ceased when the design was com- 
pleted and the first model made. 


The Inventive Urge 


One of our projects in which the entire school participates each 
year is the Santa Claus Toy Shop.* In the wood shop alone ap- 
proximately 1,000 toys for charitable distribution are made or re- 
paired. For years it has been the desire of the teachers that only 
toys designed by pupils be made, but as the toys are produced in 
quantity, after the factory plan, and as the designing of a toy suit- 
able for large scale production involves a knowledge of tool proc- 
esses, materials, and shop organization not ordinarily possessed by 
a pupil, it has been, up until the past year, practically impossible 
to utilize designs submitted by pupils. 

Last year a new department of the toy shop was created, a 
department of metal toys. One of the purposes of the new depart- 
ment was to utilize some of the inventiveness and ingenuity dis- 
played by many of our boys in toys they make with their Meccano 
parts. As none of the pupils had had any first-hand experience 
working in metal, and as our shop equipment was exceedingly sim- 
ple, it was imperative that we limit ourselves to only those toys easy 
of construction and involving simple tool processes. 

Our first concern was necessarily a toy that could be produced 
in quantities, but along with quantity production we desired a toy 
that would be attractive to the child receiving it and furnish him 
with the maximum amount of interesting activity. After several 


*See “Studies in Education,” Vol. I. 


i34 CREATIVE EFFORT 








Derrick No, 1, the original model made of Meccano parts. The iilus- 
tration below shows the parts entering into its construction. An analy- 
sis of the two illustrations reveals the determining influence of the 
pees parts on the size, proportions, and general design of the 


* ae 
53 NA HR 


gears page 


Cee ke 








PINS TH Ee OIOR 135 











Derrick No. 2, a modification of the original model in terms of .ma- 
terials available in the shop. Although greatly simplified the model 
proved not practicable for quantity production, because of the difficulty 
of shaping the parts with a limited shop equipment. 





136 CREATIVE EFFORT 























Derrick No, 3. Although made up of just eight parts this model 
retains every essential of the original, while each part has been de- 
signed to satisfy the conditions of quantity production with very simple 
equipment. 








IN THE SHOP Voz 


group discussions the problem resolved itself into the designing of 
a toy derrick. 

The first model submitted was made by a tenth grade boy. As 
shown in the illustration it was made up of 37 Meccano parts. No 
sooner was it presented to the group of experimenters than it be- 
came apparent to all that it would be impossible to make a large 
number of derricks of such a complicated model. 

The same boy set out to design a simpler derrick of the same 
general type. Instead of using Meccano parts, which in them- 
selves have already been through numerous manufacturing proc- 
esses and standardized as to forms and sizes, the boy was limited to 
the use of materials and processes available in the shop. Model 
No. 2 shows the result of his efforts. Although greatly simplified 
and reduced to 17 parts the model retains the essential features of 
Model No. 1, that is, the swivel frame and rising and falling boom. 

No further simplification seeming possible at this time the 
group set out to make the first unit of 25 derricks after Model 
No. 2. Before a dozen derricks had been completed numerous diffi- 
culties and limitations in tools and processes began to appear, diff- 
culties and limitations which through lack of experience the pupils 
had not foreseen. At the same time appeared several possibilities 
for improving and simplifying the design, based on the increased 
knowledge secured during the building of the first twenty-five. 

Again the original designer with the help of the entire group 
applied himself to the problem of a model better suited to the pro- 
duction conditions with which they were now somewhat familiar. 
The result is shown in Model No. 3. Here we have a derrick com- 
posed of but 14 parts, each of which has been clearly conceived, not 
alone in relation to every other part, but also in relation to the condi- 
tions under which this particular part could be produced efficiently 
under the limited conditions of our particular shop. After making 
a large number of derricks of this model none of the group could 
suggest further improvement; so it was accepted as complete. 


The Emotional Urge 


Every boy at some stage of his development reveals a marked 
interest in boats. That there is something deeply fundamental in 


138 CREATIVE. EFFORT 


this interest becomes apparent when one learns that it is confined 
to no one nation, nor to any section of the earth. The boy in the 
small American village, far from a natural water course, when he 
launches the schooner he has shaped from a piece of cedar, upon 
the temporary pond the spring rains have formed, manifests the 
same intense pleasure that is shown by the Chinese boy with his 
miniature junk. 

Whether or not it be the sense of freedom, romance, and ad- 
venture that boats, particularly sailing craft, symbolize to the boy, 
remains for the psychologists to determine; for the shop teacher it 
is sufficient that whenever boys are permitted and encouraged to 
make in the shop those things which le nearest to their deepest 
interests, water craft of all kinds are a favored choice. 

Our fifth grade class had been studying the Vikings. For sevy- 
eral weeks much of the work had been centered in the life and his- 
torical development of these hardy Norsemen. It is doubtful if 
any normal boy above the age of eight could without developing 
a strong emotional attitude come into such intimate contact with a 
race in whose history and myths there is blended those elements of 














Fifth grade painting of Viking ship. 


INSEE SH © P 139 


mystery, romance, bravery, and love of freedom and adventure, 
together with a childlike simplicity of motive. 

In various forms this emotional attitude was expressed by 
members of the class. With some it took literary form. Some 
made up a play representing Leif Ericson in Greenland. Still others 
made highly decorative shields. With several of the boys and one 
in particular, “Viking’’ could be adequately expressed only through 
a dragon ship. 

From the moment this boy entered the shop it was evident that 
he had already formed a very definite image of what his craft 
should be like. After its crude lines began to take shape it became 
apparent that the lad was making no copy of an historical model, 
nor was he following the accepted proportions of the conventional 
Viking ship. Nevertheless, except when called upon for assistance 
in overcoming technical difficulties in the use of tools, the shop 
teacher maintained a “hands off” policy, on the supposition that, 
since the concept in the boy’s mind was unique to himself and 
already definitely formed, it would be wisest for the teacher to sup- 
press his own ideas of a Viking ship and let the boy’s concept, crude 








Fifth grade painting of Viking ship. 


140 CREATIVE: EFFORT 


and historically incorrect as it was, reach its final realization in 
material form. In this particular case the final result is shown in 
the illustration. 

So far as shop processes and the use of tools are concerned the 
boy making the Viking ship had experienced less than any of the 
pupils making desks, but to the extent that tools and materials were 
necessary to the expression of what was to him a much desired end, 
to just that extent has he made the knowledge and experience he 
has gained a part of himself. Through the choosing, directing, and 
shaping of materials to the end of realizing a significant concept 
the boy has gained much intellectually, while the reaction of the 

















Viking ship by fifth grade pupil. 


INS HET SHOP 141 











Viking ship by fifth grade pupil. 


image with which he started to the characteristics and limitations 
of the materials and processes used in its realization has resulted in 
a more vitalized concept and an intellectual framework to sustain it. 

Of still greater value, and a value that carries over into every 
activity of life, is the power the boy has experienced of concen- 
trating all of his faculties, emotional, mental, and physical, placing 
them at the service of a creative image, and sustaining them until 
the image is realized. 


Summary 


A brief comparison of the origin and conditions determining 
the development of the creative impulses underlying the three shop 
problems cited will perhaps better reveal their essential differences. 

In the case of the desk the outstanding factor was the utili- 
tarian motive which gave immediate direction to and definitely lim- 
ited the creative thought. To a very large extent the design was 


142 CREATIVE EFFORT 


determined by arbitrary physical conditions. The interest of the 
pupils was chiefly intellectual and objective. They needed desks. 
Furthermore, conditions beyond their control determined the par- 
ticular type of desk. 

The problem offered little stimulus for an emotional response 
even had there been time to develop the necessary background of 
feeling. Indeed, it is extremely doubtful if any article of furni- 
ture could arouse a genuine emotional thrill in an elementary school 
pupil. Whatever meaning furniture has in his mental world, it 
rarely has associations that spring from his imagination. 

Nor was there opportunity for a problem-solving interest in 
working out the desk design, since the testing out of ideas in their 
final form in a desk would require far more time than was avail- 
able. In its completed form the desk is an excellent example of 
utilitarian ends determining the form of expression and furnishing 
the motive for action. 

In the derrick we have an example of utilitarian ends deter- 
mining the design but not the motive for action. The derrick stands 
for no need that the pupil feels personally. His interest is on the 
inventive, problem-solving plane. In the beginning he intentionally 
sets out to design a derrick. His concept is entirely vague. He is 
in that state of mind when any one of a dozen different types of 
derricks would correspond with his jelly-like concept. 

Experimenting with the partially formed and suggestive ma- 
terials of his Meccano set, the boy evolves Model No. 1, resulting 
in a distinct clarification of his mental image. After having defi- 
nitely chosen and made a particular type of derrick, his next stage 
of development comes when he attempts to separate his concept of 
derrick from its arrangement of Meccano parts and express it in 
the materials available in the shop. He becomes very conscious that 
the toy he has produced with comparative ease with ready-prepared 
materials offers insurmountable barriers to production under the 
conditions of the shop. An analysis of his first model reveals that 
its essential features are the swivel frame and rising and falling 
boom. His problem is the simplification of his concept so as to 
retain these essentials in relation to the limitations of shop processes 
and materials of which he has for the first time become conscious. 
Model No. 2 reveals the second stage of his developing thought. 

The final stage is reached when an unsuccessful attempt is 
made to produce Model No. 2 in quantities. The boy at this point 


DNS THE SHOP 143 


comes to realize that the production of any article in quantities in- 
volves factors that are not at all present when but a single model 
is to be made. Once more he is forced to re-analyze his concept 
and to re-conceive it in terms of the processes and organization 
necessary to quantity production. The result is shown in Model 
No. 3. Not until this stage was reached and the design tested out in 
the production of a large number did the original creative impulse 
reach its full maturity. 

With the Viking ship the origin of the concept and motive for 
its expression are predominately subjective. Unlike the desk and 
the derrick, which were made for definitely material uses, this boy 
is making his boat because it is his best way of controlling a mass 
of surging feelings that to him stand for the Vikings. It is his way 
of organizing and giving significance to a part of his inner life that 
his study of the Vikings has made him conscious of. 

To one in close sympathy with what the boy is trying to ac- 
complish it is evident that his craft is far more to him than just 
a boat—consciously or otherwise the dragon ship is to him an or- 
ganizing idea, a nucleus as it were around which and through which 
he is attempting to express the most significant characteristic that 
he knows, feels, or imagines about the Vikings. Once his mental 
image becomes emotionally powerful enough to demand expression, 
his senses become keenly alive to every bit of information he can 
get, not only about the boats of the Vikings, but of their dress, 
customs, religion, voyages, and heroes. Many facts he had before 
learned suddenly take on a new significance, particularly such bits 
of history as relate to their boats. For the time being the boy has 
become closely identified with the life of this historic people. Long 
before his tiny craft is completed he is riding out a gale in the North 
Sea, founding a colony in sunny Sicily, raiding the Norman coast, 
or discovering Greenland with Leif Ericson. He knows the “feel” 
of the oars, sees himself at the “steere” board, senses the thrill of 
the sea in an open boat. To him his craft is symbolic of all these 
experiences, and in creating the symbol he has made these experi- 
ences a part of himself. Through the sustained effort his ship has 
called forth, the boy has fused in his memory great masses of im- 
pressions and information which would otherwise have remained 
dormant, undigested, vague, and incomplete. 

Unlike the pupils making desks the Viking ship boy has no 


144 CREATIVE EFFORT 


standardized shop tests with which to measure the progress of his 
work. Because his concept was unique, growing out of his emo- 
tional response to the Vikings, the success of his work could be 
measured only by the adequateness of its correspondence to his 
mental image. At every stage of its construction there was a con- 
stantly recurring demand upon his imagination and judgment, and 
a continuous conflict between his mental concept and the resistant 
materials with which he was working. Aside from the physical 
limitations of his materials and his lack of technical skill the respon- 
sibility for his work rested solely on himself—the clarity of his 
mental image and the skill with which he selected from the world 
of his imagination those elements which would best express his 
concept. 

It is not the intention of the present article to attempt to define 
those school and shop conditions that give rise to the highest degree 
of genuine creative interest. In general any shop problem that in 
the pupil’s mind stands for some deeply fundamental interest, is 
potential material for creative thought. By far the most significant 
change taking place today in the elementary school shop is the sub- 
stitution of problems with an emotional and human appeal for time- 
honored problems such as furniture construction. The normal child 
seldom or never reveals a direct and spontaneous interest in any 
object which to him symbolizes fixed conditions of life, regardless 
of the fact that such conditions may have an immense influence on 
the enhanced freedom which mankind as a mass is feeling. But in 
all of those symbols of a freer interchange of thought and com- 
modities between the races of the earth, in transportation and com- 
munication, in radio, electric power, boats, autos, railways, and air 
travel, the normal child has a direct and spontaneous interest. 
Psychologically he is born in an age when science is blossoming as 
never before, and important recent discoveries and inventions, re- 
gardless of their significance to adult life, symbolize to the child a 
vast freeing of the human spirit from many traditional limitations. 
The child of to-day senses the meaning of radio and air travel far 
better than his elders, and just to the extent that the school shop 
will provide conditions for forms of shop work that will express 
the new spirit, to just that extent will its output be of a genuinely 
creative quality. 


CREATIVE EFFORT IN THE MORNING EXERCISE 














-Youssee.,esaid Dexter, sthey ve tethered the goat: * 

This eighth grade boy was enchanted by the second grade sand 
table story on exhibition in the lower hall that morning. He hap- 
pened to be explaining it to me, his teacher, but anyone would have 
served as audience. In fact, anyone near at hand would have had 
to serve as audience to this enthusiast. The sand table was indeed 
worthy of the attention of an adult and even of an eighth grader, 
On the sand table one could see clearly foothills and a mountain. 
The hills were made of boxes filled with sprouted grass, and the 
mountain was made of bare rocks piled high. The hills were cov- 
ered with paper trees on wooden bases. Among the trees we saw 
clay men standing, and a woman milking a cow. The animals— 
cows, calves, goats, and sheep—were tethered, as Dexter had 
pointed out, to the trees. In one spot there was a hole covered 


145 


CREATIVE EP BORA 





Two wild goats guarding the flock, 





Tether-peg milking the first tame cow. 








IN THE MORNING EXERCISE 147 








Wild bull caught in a trap. 


with sticks and grass, and in this hole lay a clay cow. This, to 
those who understood, was a bull caught in a trap. Now let our 
eyes travel up the mountain. For a while there are still paper 
trees. They grow scarcer and scarcer, however, as our eyes go 
higher, and soon timber line is reached. But we have seen clay 
sheep feeding freely on the higher stretches. Above timber line 
there is a plateau, and here are the wild goats. The very top is 
snow capped by cotton. There is one thing more which makes the 
sand table picture achieve perfection, a waterfall. You, I suppose, 
are as dull as I, and do not know how it was made, but for- 
tunately we have a guide. Hidden among the rocks is a rubber 
tube which has its higher end in a pail of water. The second grade 
has cemented the path which the brook takes so that it will be solid, 
and the water flows out through a hole at the far end of the sand 
table. 

It was our privilege to start the day pleasantly by seeing this 
exhibit, because on that morning the second grade was going to 
have an exercise about the early herdsmen. You may well imagine 
that with such a precursor we expected the very best, and as we 
entered the Old Gymnasium our spirits were high, for from the 
pictures on the stage and the arrangement of the chairs we gathered 
that we would not be disappointed. The Old Gymnasium is a 
rather small room with a stage on one side. But we could see that 
the acting would not be on the stage, for the curtain was covered 
with gay pictures. These pictures were made with kalsomine.* 


*See illustrations, pages 145-147. 


148 CREATIVE EFFORT 


They showed shepherds with their flocks; the caves in which the 
primitive people lived; the owl, the bird of night; the eagle, the 
sky bird; and many other important subjects. With the stage 
forming one side, the chairs were arranged on the other three sides 
of a hollow rectangle. In this open space we knew the second 
grade would have its play. Before the play, however, there were 
stories. I have, perhaps, written too long before giving the stories 
themselves, but all these things, the sand table, the pictures, the 
small room, the intimacy of the hollow rectangle, made our emo- 
tional attitude toward this exercise one of anticipation and cor- 
diality, and I hope your feelings correspond to ours. Here are 
the stories as the children told them: 

Raymond—We have been reading a book called “The Early 
Herdsmen,” *and it is about people who lived a long time ago. 
They had funny names, like Tether-peg, Spin-a-thread, Root-dig- 
ger, Pick-a-tree, and a lot of other funny names like that. I will 
now tell you how the leader of the clan got his name. When he 
was a little boy his name was Little Beaver. Before Little Beaver 
was four years old, his mother gave him a little puppy dog. The 
puppy dog’s name was Cubby. . Little Beaver taught Cubby to 
stand on her hind legs and beg for a bone, and when she begged 
for it she always got it. In a year Cubby was a full-grown dog, 
but Little Beaver was still a little boy. One day Little Beaver 
missed Cubby. He looked and called her everywhere, until he 
came to a hollow place in an oak tree, and there he found Cubby 
and four baby puppy dogs. So then he had five dogs. Then in 
another year those four dogs were full-grown and they had litters 
of puppies, so that by the time Little Beaver was a full grown 
man he had such a large pack of dogs that they called him Many- 
dogs, and they made him leader of the clan. And then he married 
a woman called Tether-peg, and they went to live in a different 
place. 

Ruth—In winter the people lived in the valley because it was 
warmer than on the hills, and in the valleys the trees kept the cold 
winds away. They had their camp near water for drinking and 
cooking. Here is a picture of one of their pits (pointing to pic- 

*The Early Herdsmen,’”’ by Katherine Dopp. This book has been published since 


our ‘Studies in Education, Volume VII,’’ and bridges a gap in the second grade history 
therein described. 


IN THE MORNING EXERCISE 149 


ture held up by another child). It was really a hole in the ground, 
deep enough for them to stand up in and wide enough for them 
to lie down. The roof-hole was a circle three feet across, and 
they measured it in a very funny way. They measured it with 
their feet because they hadn’t any rulers in those days. 

To make the wall stronger, they wove hazelnut branches to- 
gether and pushed them against the wall, and they daubed clay 
against that, and they did the same thing for the covering of the 
roof. For a door they dug a tunnel through the earth, to the top 
of the ground, and that kept the cold wind out. This is a picture 
of a hazelnut basket. It has hazelnuts in it for winter. They 
ate those in winter. 

Betty—When summer came, the people were glad to get out 
of the pits. It was dark and cold in the pits. As soon as summer 
came, the wild cattle, sheep, and goats went up into the foothills, 
and the people moved with them. They were hunters, and they 
hunted for their food. Many-dogs and Big-crow were their lead- 
ers. It took them a long time to get in line. It was a long journey, 
and the people grew tired. Many-dogs blew on his horn and beat 
his drum and said, 

“We are going to the foothills, 
We are going to the foothills, — 
That is a good place to dwell.” 

And the people answered him and said, 

“Yes, we are going to the foothills, 
We are going to the foothills,— 
That is a good place to dwell.” 

Last year’s second grade made up a tune to these words, and 
some of them are going to sing it. 

Here some of last year’s second grade sang the song which 
you will find on page — of this book. 

Joan—Many-dogs and Tether-peg had two children, named 
Little Bear and Days’-eye. They got dreadfully tired of living in 
the pits all winter, because the pits were dark and close. They 
liked summer very much, because they could play and do things. 
I made up a little poem about what they liked to do: 

“T am happy that summer is here. 
Now I can swim, 


150 CREATIVE EFFORT 


Now I can pick flowers, 
Now I can get fresh air. 
I am happy that summer is here.” 


Louise—From the valley to the foothills was a three-days’ 
journey. When they got to the foothills they chose a cool hill that 
was shaded by oak trees. Before they unpacked, Tether-peg looked 
around and said, ‘Let us first make friends with the gods of this 
place,” and she looked around and saw a beautiful oak tree. Mis- 
tletoe grew on its branches, and they called it the sacred oak tree. 
Then she built the sacred fire, and when they were eating their 
night’s meal they saw a beautiful light glowing on the mountain 
top, but it was dark in the valley, and looking at the mountains 
they sang, 

“We turn our backs to the dark valley; 
We turn our faces to the light.” 


Soon it was twilight in the foothills, and when the snow-capped 
mountains were dark the people were asleep. 


Lester—Early the next morning the men started off with their 
bows and arrows, away up in the mountains beyond the forest line. 
They were trying to catch some goats. The goats were not easy to 
catch, because they lived in flocks and the leader would give the 
signal when there was any danger and they would all jump to the 
rocks. But Many-dogs was lucky that day. He shot an eagle and 
carried home a kid. He got the kid from the eagle’s talons. When 
Do-little and Eat-well saw the kid, they said, ‘“Let’s kill it, let’s 
kill it,” but when Little Bear and Days’-eye heard them they said, 
“No, no, let’s keep it for a pet.” 


Madge—Of course the next morning the baby goat wanted 
some milk. The children didn’t have any milk to give it, because 
they had never tamed any animals before. But Many-dogs said, 
“Never mind, I will go up to the mountains again and get the 
mother goat.” It was a long, hard trip, but he got the mother goat. 
He tied her legs together and brought her home on his back. He 
brought her home alive. 

Jack—When the kid was old enough to eat grass by itself, 
Tether-peg tethered it to one tree and the mother to another tree, 
and then she got a wooden bowl and milked the mother goat, and 
the mother goat kicked—she was not used to being milked before. 


IN THE MORNING EXERCISE 151 


Tether-peg gave all the milk to the children, and they liked it so 
much that they wanted more. Then Many-dogs captured some 
more goats, and they captured some wild sheep. The last animals 
they learned how to tame were wild cows, and then they had all 
the milk they wanted. 

Jane—The people lived so long ago they didn’t know about 
many things. They thought the sky was flat, and because the sky 
looked flat they thought it was a great tent, and that the high moun-— 
tains were the tent poles. They didn’t know that the earth turned 
around the sun, and that when we had day over in China they had 
night, and that day always followed night. And they didn't like 
the dark, cold winter nights. They thought that darkness was 
stronger than light, and they feared that the light would never 
come back again. Then they didn’t know about the four seasons, 
spring, summer, fall, and winter. They thought summer was a 
lovely god, because she brought them warmth and food. They 
thought winter was a terrible god because he brought them no 
warmth and no food. 

Grace—The people thought the sky and the sun were gods, 
too. The eagle was their sacred bird. They called it sky’s mes- 
senger, because it flew high up in the blue sky and built its nest 
on the high mountain top. The birds they didn’t like were the owl 
and the raven. They wanted to scare them away. So they built 
a great sacred fire to light up the hills and bring summer back. 


Robert—We made a sand table story of the people’s summer 
home, and you can see that we have the goats and cows and calves 
tethered to the trees near the camp. The mountain has two pla- 
teaus, one above forest line and the other amongst the trees. The 
goats are on the higher plateau, and the sheep are in the one among 
the trees. We have a real waterfall, and in case anybody would 
like to see it we would be glad to show it after the exercise. 

The stories attained our highest hopes. I shall speak later of 
the quite irrelevant thoughts I had as a teacher. I doubt if I had 
them until after the exercise. At the time I was glad to know how 
Many-dogs received his name; that he married Tether-peg, and 
that they had two children, Little-beaver and Days’-eye. The atti- 
tude of the early herdsmen toward night and day, towards winter 
and summer, was of the highest interest, and their mode of living 


152 GREATTV BE PE ORT 


during these two seasons was of great importance. It was well I 
had concentrated on the stories, for they gave the necessary back- 
ground for what followed, and I was well prepared for any phase 
of early-herdsman life when Joe, as stage manager, said: “We 
made a play, and we made a song to go with it. The name of the 
play is How Summer Came.’ The Crow Clan lived here (pointing 
to different corners of the rectangle), and the Bear Clan lives here, 
~ and the Eagle Clan lives here, and Many-dog’s family lives here 
in the center, and Summer lives down south there.” 


AA PLAY 
HOW SUMMER CAME 
Scene I 
(Many-dogs and his family are huddled together around their 
fire. The children shiver.) 
Little-beaver—I’m cold! 
Many-dogs—Ill fix up the fire. 
Tether-peg—Be careful, Little-beaver, or you'll burn yourself. 
(Little-beaver cuddles up to Many-dogs. ) 
Little-beaver—I wish winter would go away. 
Many-dogs—W inter is a hungry beast. 
Tether-peg—Yes, winter is worse than a pack of hungry 
wolves. 
Day’s-eye—Can’t we scare winter away? 
Many-dogs—Winter is too terrible a god for us to fight alone. 
Tether-peg—Let’s call all the clans together. 
Day’s-eye—Here’s your horn, daddy, blow it. | 
(Many-dogs blows loudly. The clans answer softly. They 
come quickly, saying, “What is it, what is it?” They sit 
in a large circle. All the people look cold and very un- 
happy. The wise woman rises to speak to them.) 
Tether-peg—Winter has driven summer away. Summer is 
weak and tired, and she will never come back unless we he!p her. 
(All crouch down and weep.) Summer’s friends are sick. Help 
us to frighten winter away. 
Spin-a-thread—I am the clan mother. My people will help 
you. What shall we do? 
Many-dogs—The earth has forgotten summer. Earth is asleep. 
Let’s awaken her. 


IN THE MORNING EXERCISE 153 


All—Yes, yes, let’s awaken her! 
Big-crow—Beat the drum. Make ‘a loud noise. The Crow 
Clan will dance and stamp their feet. We will awaken the earth. 














WAKING THE EARTH DANCE 
Robert composed this dance. It is danced by six children. A 
stamp. A jump on both feet. Listen in with ear bent toward the 
earth during the whole note. 
Two stamps—a jump. 
Three stamps—a jump. 
Four stamps—a jump. 





154 CREATIVE EFFORT 


The jump is represented by a whole note, to show how the 
posture is held while the performer looks at the earth and listens 
for a sign of response to his efforts to rouse the earth from its 
slumber. Then begins quick, energetic stamping, increasing in a 
gradual accelerando to a run, ending after eight measures in a final 
and supreme jump. ; 

(At last the dancers sink down. All the people moan and 
curl up on the floor.) 


Scene II 
(Leader of the Eagle Clan sits up, exclaiming. ) 
Leader—I have a plan! You all know the eagle. 
All—Yes, yes. 
Leader—He is a strong bird and he is the sky’s messenger. 
All—That’s so! ; 
Leader—Let’s bring the eagle down to earth. He will swoop 
down and in his great talons carry off winter. 
All—Play the eagle dance! 


THE SHAG EODANGE 


Composed by Kerlin. The leader of the dance is a big boy. 
All the eagle tribe are tall and straight. The leader begins to dance 








The eagles flying. The photographs had to be taken out-of- 
doors because of the light. 


IN THE MORNING EXERCISE 155 











GUeteneheretat ehject. 


by giving the eagle’s cry, raising his arms in powerful flight, thrust- 
ing his head forward. He searches for Winter, to carry him off in 
his powerful talons. He circles around the tribe, occasionally 
swooping downward with a shrill cry and flying far away in his 
search. But he comes back defeated and sinks to the earth with a 
cry of discouragement. 

Leader (discouraged)—The eagle is not as strong as we 
thought. 

Root-digger—We have tried all these dances, and none of them 
worked; not anything happened. I am so tired; I am going to 
sleep. 

All—So am I, so am I. 

(All the clan fall asleep. Many-dogs moves and stretches, 
sits up, and rubs his eyes.) 

Many-dogs (surprised )—I can’t sée my hand! Where is Lit- 
tle-beaver? What a dark night it is! (An owl hoots.) That’s 
the owl. 

All—I’'m afraid, I’m afraid. (They huddle together. ) 

Day’s-eye—Don’t get up, mother. I’m afraid. 

Tether-peg—Bird of night, come not to our home. You love 
darkness; you love winter. (The owl hoots again.) 


156 CREATIVE EFFORT 


Drag-a-load—We must drive that evil bird away. 
All—Yes, yes. 
Many-dogs—Dance the sacred fire dance. Get sticks and 
branches and build a sacred fire. 
Drag-a-load—Yes, we will light up the hills and bring sum- 
mer back. 
(Build fire and dance about.) 
(Owl flits away.) 


SACRED FIRE DANCE 


The dancers quietly and quickly build up the fire, then crouch 
and blow the flame. As it begins to burn, they circle around the 
fire, representing the slowly mounting flames. The leader jumps 
and turns in the air on the first count of the measure; the second 
does this in the second measure; and each one in turn does it once. 
They all jump every two counts. They pause for a moment to 
seize a burning brand from the fire, which they use as a torch while 
leaping wildly in the circle, blowing their horns and trying by their 
wild efforts to frighten away the darkness and bring back the light 
and warmth. 


IN THE MORNING EXERCISE 15 








Blowing the flame. 

















The flame is leaping up from the fire. 


158 CREATIVE EFFORT 


Drag-a-load—We have driven the owl away, but summer is 
not yet here. 

(All cry and again curl up on the floor.) 

Day’ s-eye—The fire has gone out. I’m cold, mother. 

Tether-peg—Dear summer, do come back to us. We are try- 
ing our best to help you. We love you. 

(Summer and two birds sit up when they hear Tether- 
peg. ) 

Summer—Why, I thought I heard some one calling me. I must 
have been asleep. I am sure I felt the earth trembling. It must 
have been the flowers trying to push up through the ice and snow. 
And I heard great wings in the air. It must have been the wild 
geese flying north. I must go back to my friends in the north. I 
will send the birds ahead of me to tell them-I am coming. 

(Birds fly away chirping to awaken the people.) 

All—Wake up! wake up! the birds are’ singing. 

Summer stops to pick wild flowers and then runs gayly 
into the middle of the circle. 

Summer—‘1’m here, I’m here.” 

Tether-peg—Let us sing a greeting to summer. 
























































aS == 


- Coma gentle AME « mer, Wah comme Gv the PLA = me1. 


That was the exercise. We had seen pictures and heard 
stories and a song. We had seen a play which had dancing and 
singing in it. The Diaghlieff Ballet, itself, had not appealed to 
more senses, and as a result of this many-sided appeal the audi- 
ence had received a vivid impression. 

What of the actors? What had been their experience? After 
having read about the early herdsmen* the children wished to share 
their knowledge with other members of the school. You may not 


IN THE MORNING EXERCISE 159 


be willing to call the result of their effort “art,” but at least you 
must admit that its source is the same as that of art. From what 
impulse does art arise if not from the desire to express for others 
a vital moment? 

In their school life these children have many opportunities for 
expressing themselves and for doing creative work. In preparing 
this exercise their first thought was to write stories and a play 
which would tell others of the life of the early herdsmen and make 
them for a brief space live that life. By means of pictures, music, 
and dances they were able to make the school share the picture in 
their mind’s eye. Did they succeed in this undertaking? They 
did for me, and I am sure they did for others. I suppose it is hard 
to imagine human beings farther removed from each other than 
eighth graders and second graders; yet the second grade earned the 
highest praise of the eighth grade. 

“That was a good play, all right,’ many eighth graders said, 
“almost as good as the one we gave when we were in second grade.” 











Kalsomine painting by child in second grade, Showing a method of 
threshing in early shepherd life. See “Creative Effort in 
Drawing and Painting.” 


MISCELLANY AND MORALS 


Chesterton remarks somewhere that no one needs to define a 
chair or a cat because everyone knows what a chair and a cat are. 
The editorial committee at work on this book made the same as- 
sumption in regard to “creative effort”; and the articles contributed 
by half a score of teachers without collaboration seem to bear out 
the committee’s belief; or the book, perhaps, explains what we 
mean by the phrase we have adopted. 

This book cannot do more than suggest the whole picture. And 
we have for the most part omitted mention of the enormously 
variable creative element in many non-academic school activities, 
though it is present rather surprisingly often. For instance it ap- 
pears in an unpredictable quantity in the evening meetings of the 
“Forum,” which occur monthly and are open to all high school 
pupils. The Forum is an organization composed of seven groups 
which would otherwise exist separately as dramatic, debating, art, 
literature, science, music, and glee club societies. The children 
choose the group to which they will belong, make their programs, 
and conduct their meetings with little help or restriction. Such 
creativeness as they possess thus finds some outlet here. In con- 
nection with student self-government,* a large number of situations 
occur which call upon pupils to make something: a new constitution 
(how often!), or a carefully formulated proposal to the assembly, 
or a nicely built speech of defense or attack—to say nothing of the 
fact that they build in air an experience in democratic government. 

Creative possibilities are almost unlimited, we say, in many de- 
partments. Ideally the statement were true. In reality every 
teacher is handicapped by limitations of time, space, and tools or 
materials, and by an oversupply of children (from the viewpoint of 
right pedagogy). Our school is decidedly unideal in some of these 
particulars. It sometimes seems that we must sacrifice one value 
or another. We can, we are tempted to exclaim, teach more tech- 
nique on the one hand, or on the other hand stimulate more of a 


*Pamphlet available, See list at end of book. 


160 


AND MORALS 161 


genuine creative spirit. As a matter of fact, this dilemma has only 
one horn. Experience convinces us more and more that the essen- 
tials of technique are taught more rapidly and more efficiently in 
relation to work motivated by creative impulses—indeed, that tech- 
nique cannot be taught so rapidly and efficiently in any other way. 
Moreover, the creative attitude of mind can enter the teaching and 
learning of facts and habits. 

Perhaps we seem to stretch our term. But one member of the 
faculty writes: 

“The point which it seems to me needs emphasis is the creative 
attitude. of mind, the habit of self-expression which fosters and 
produces artistic creation. While this statement seems rather 
axiomatic, the attitude certainly fails very often to be evident in a 
class room. In visiting other schools, and in different groups in 
this school, it is interesting to note the difference in this particular. 
Groups range from the stolid, passive type through that more de- 
ceptive phase where responsiveness is mistaken for and accepted as 
creative thinking, to the highly independent, constructive, creative 
attitude that is happily characteristic of some schools. 

“Tt seems to me practical and necessary for each one of us to 
consider the conditions that nourish and stimulate creativeness and 
to analyze the symptoms of its presences. The higher phases of 
artistic creativeness begin or at least are present with cruder, sim- 
pler phases. 

“The very attitude of questioning is essentially creative. Criti- 
cism, suggestion, initiative, invention, any original thinking, is the 
soil of creative effort. 

“To gain the most vital creative response in literature, music, 
or art, we need to cultivate it in mathematics, spelling, silent read- 
ing, the daily household tasks, in every activity which makes up the 
day. When a child in learning to subtract perceives that to sub- 
tract $ .42 from $ .50 one dime must be changed to ten pennies, and 
he thinks his minuend as 4 dimes and 10 pennies, and then jumps 
at the next step, saying ‘I see, then, when you take $ .92 from $1.00 
you change the dollar to 10 dimes’—that child has been creative. 
You may say that it is merely logical inference, but I maintain, on 
the contrary, that he has employed logical inference to create a 
process, to him wholly new. 


162 MISCELLANY 


“When a teacher puts the word fountain into a spelling list and 
a child objects, ‘Why do you include that word, since we had moun- 
tain the other day? Why don’t we just have one list of all those 
words?’ he has made a contribution to pedagogy. That teachers 
may have conceived that device before does not lessen the creative 
value of the act to the child. 

“The habitual practice of 

(1) providing an opportunity and motive for expression after 

any new vivid experience 

(2) maintaining genuine motive for all work _ 

(3) welcoming suggestion and criticism from the children 

(4) watching the process of thinking rather than the result of 

a child’s thinking 
is highly important pedagogically in developing creativeness. 

“Tf we combine with this, attention to right conditions for ex- 
pression and the constant building up of standards of beauty 
through the experience and enjoyment of great literature, music, 
and art, creative results from the children are inevitable. Passivity 
—that condition which most nearly simulates death—is the one 
condition in which creativeness cannot exist. Conditions that are 
vital, life-giving, stimulate and develop it.’—E. A. W. 

To return, however, to the educational experiences which are 
less debatably creative, the writers of the many sections of our 
discussion have stated, again without collaboration, a surprisingly 
large number of similar or complementary conclusions. For the 
sake of convenience we quote from ourselves: 


Reasons for Creative Effort 


“The longing for creative expression is inherent in everyone. 
With children it is as natural as speech, and it is only when the 
pressure of limitation is put upon them that the work lacks the 
spontaneity thateissinsiinctive el nemchid seater loves to play, 
dramatize, draw, paint, dance, and sing. All that is joyous is his 
life, and art is the reliving of his joys.”—M. C. 

PL DO sWhOle ra ete eer makes an expression which is joyous and 
spontaneous, both necessary elements of true creative art.’”—M. C. 

“There is ability in children to create which is not being dis- 
covered early enough, if at all. Creative talent great enough to 


AND MORALS 163 


demand expression for itself will usually take care of itself, but 
lesser talent ought to be developed also—for the good of the indi- 
vidual, if not for the rest of the world.”—H. G. 

“The finer emotions act as a stimulus for expression and may 
produce form that has beauty, line, and rhythm.”—L. D. H. 


Conditions for Creative Effort 


“We believe that if a pupil has the necessary leisure, and the 
right kind of stimulation and help, he may discover for himself a 
whole new range of power and joy in this work.’—H. G. 

“The process must be really free. Most of the instruction 
should come incidentally out of the pupil’s own felt need for it, 
and must never interfere with the joy of free expression.”—H. G. 

“To approximate the ideal conditions for true dramatic and 
creative expression, the class room must supply, as nearly as pos- 
sible, the freedom that is present when the children, wholly self- 
motivated, self-directed, self-expressive, play their story unobserved 
by critical eyes and ears.”—J. M. 


Increased Accuracy of Impression 


“When the attention of the child has been attracted and his 
interest aroused, there follows a lively interest or mental picture. 
The child then has an impulse to give some expression to this 
mental picture. He may give it pantomimic expression or vocal 
expression, or he may attempt to express it by means of a diary, 
or to give it some physical embodiment, as in clay. The fuller the 
impression, the more permanent the idea. The very art of expres- 
sion causes the individual to realize the points of cloudiness in his 
impression, tends to make him return to the mental impression and 
exercise closer observation. The closer observation is possible be- 
cause the art of expression has clarified the thought and left the 
mind free for restimulation and for a larger and more truthful im- 
pression. Reimpressed, the individual is ready for a new expression 
of the fuller mental picture, and so the process goes on.”—J. M. 


Inspiration and Technique 


“T believe it is possible to educate children with such a foun- 
dation that real art will result. Being eager to create and willing 


164 MISCELLANY 


to recognize the quality of art in others, is true art, is it not? As 
the child grows in judgment he includes others in his interest. 
Often quite young children appreciate others’ efforts. Confidence 
takes the place of timidity, and with each effort the child learns 
control over the medium. The inspirational nature of such activity 
is easily seen. Technique takes care of itself, and skill develops 
with the effort to do what the child really desires. Colonel Parker, 
more than thirty years ago, said, “The difficulties of technique or 
skill are very much over-estimated. The reason for this over-rating 
is that attempts are commonly made to make forms of expression 
without adequate motive and unimpelled by thought, forms that 
have no thought correspondence.’ ’’—M. C. 

“The steps in the development of self-criticism which lead to 
the establishment of personal standards of judgment and taste come 
naturally in original work. Self-criticism leads to self-discipline 
and the deeper action of the will to create. But skill must keep 
pace with the critical faculty, and we hope to aid in supplying the 
stimulus and the beginning of technique for a genuine, clear-headed 
desire for self-expression.” 


Results 


Of the boy building the Viking ship......... “Long before his 
tiny craft is completed he is riding out a gale in the North Sea, 
founding a colony in sunny Sicily, raiding the Norman coast, or 
discovering Greenland with Leif Ericson. He knows the ‘feel’ of 
the oars, sees himself at the ‘steereboard,’ senses the thrill of the sea 
in an open boat. To him his craft is symbolic of all these experi- 
ences, and in creating the symbol he has made these experiences a 
part of himself. Through the sustained effort his ship has called 
forth, the boy has fused in his memory great masses of impressions 
and information which would otherwise have remained dormant, 
undigested, vague, and incomplete. 

“Unlike the pupils making desks, the Viking ship boy had no 
standardized shop tests with which to measure the progress of his 
work. Because his concept was unique, growing out of his emo- 
tional response to the Vikings, the success of his work could be 
measured only by the adequateness of its correspondence to his 
mental image. At every stage of its construction there was a con- 
stantly recurring demand upon his imagination and judgment, and 


AND MORALS 165 


a continuous conflict between his mental concept and the resistant 
material with which he was working. Aside from the physical 
limitations of his materials and his lack of technical skill the re- 
sponsibility for his work rested solely upon himself—the clarity of 
his mental image and the skill with which he selected from the 
world of his imagination those elements which would best express 
his concept.”—C. A. K. 

“The question may be asked, ‘When can we know that a child’s 
work has the quality of art?’ It is natural for children to be 
pleased with what they have made. This is not a complacent state 
of thought, but results from having put the whole capacity to the 
WOTK SG. tee aa If the concept the child has is realized in his work, 
it has the quality of art. This, however, can only be seen in the 
child’s response and attitude toward his work. The reaction to 
the work, should be a satisfied child.”—M. C. 

Pe as gee Oa there must be a need so vital that beauty is the 
MALTA HOULCOLC a cite The children were sustained throughout 
by thought. It is the function of art to train the imagination to 
outward expression. This requires an exercise of thought. The 
ability to see mentally a situation present, past, or future is imag- 
ination.” —M. C. 

“Tt is right that children have the satisfaction of seeing their 
work come to a successful completion when effort has been made. 
Success is a stimulus for greater effort. The confidence and power 
the children gain in this work is of greater value than the outward 
expression.” —J. M. 

“Tt was worth the time, for during the study the children 
gained much in discrimination and feeling for the best design and 
construction, and had opportunity to develop their creative ability 
and apply it to a practical problem. This meant that they acquired 
a surprisingly large amount of technique, knowledge, and skill, and 
that they worked with great zest and enthusiasm because they were 
‘making something they would all enjoy.’”—K. C. 
ee we must help them to express what they want to 
express. Whatever the content, it is surely true that until they 
have had both these opportunities in full measure, to experience 
and to express, they have not had the chance of acquiring what 
Colonel Parker calls ‘that which is noblest in a human being, the 
impelling power to action.’”—H. G. 


166 MISCELLANY 


To these statements should be added some comment on the 
value of the child’s ready assumption of complete responsibility 
for the end to be achieved. No need to talk about responsibility 
when creation is in process. The child is doing the thing. It 1s 
his own. Of course he is responsible. 


iM 


In addition to these principles which we have specifically stated, 
there seem to be at least three conceptions which we take for 
granted, for the most part, but which deserve explicit emphasis 
nevertheless. 

First, the children have a great deal to express. In all proba- 
bility most children have more to express than most adults realize 
or remember, and one function of the school is to increase their 
wealth of experience. For instance, a great part of the creative 
product described or presented in this book resulted directly from 
the building up of rich “backgrounds” in school. The Greeks, the 
Vikings, the Indians, prehistoric man—these figures of the past 
become part of children’s lives, actually, and fire their imaginations. 

Secondly, we hold it to be the sacred right of every child to 
find out, by trying all avenues of expression, how he can best or 
most happily express himself. It is a matter of no small importance 
that Philip discovers in his senior year in high school—during some 
weeks spent in making etchings—that he can sketch. He cannot 
sing or dance or act particularly well; that he realized long ago. 
But now—he can draw! It is an amusing if highly tentative re- 
flection that if the psycho-analyst is right, in his war against re- 
pression, the school may credit itself with a vast contribution to 
adult happiness and peace if the school encourages every child to 
free self-expression in whatever medium each child can use. 

But individual happiness cannot be achieved without the happi- 
ness which involves what we may misleadingly call social relation- 
ships; our true meaning is most apparent in terms of these cre- 
ative experiences. Few people would paint a picture or tell a story 
or sing a song if no one were present to look or to listen. One 
does not create for oneself alone. Few of us could be really happy 
in a world in which no one made things for our appreciation. Man 


AND MORALS 167 


cannot live for himself or by himself alone. Perhaps this truth 
is nowhere more apparent than in the causes and results of creative 
effort. Ina school, such effort is produced only by the manifesta- 
tion of this truth in every part of the pupil’s life. 


IV 


We may seem to have said surprisingly little about “beauty.” 
That is partly because we are modest, to a degree. We have pre- 
sented to the reader compositions, music, and pictures, which we 
think contain elements of beauty. We have described activities 
which seemed to us beautiful. We believe that freedom to create 
produces beauty. 

We have not said enough about beauty of environment. We 
have inveighed against the imitation of art forms; no one ever cre- 
ates by copying. But aesthetic inclinations and standards are set 
up subconsciously by whatever beauty the environment contains. 
Therefore a school must needs be housed beautifully. The house 
must be furnished with an eye to beauty as well as utility. Children 
must know beautiful music and literature and see beautiful pic- 
tures, and they must be shown beauty in landscape and architecture. 
Seldom directly, but constantly nevertheless, forms of beauty will 
be translated into other forms of beauty. 

And we have failed to dwell upon the effect that creating beauty 
has upon one’s ability to appreciate beauty created by someone else. 
Surely it goes without saying. The children who made the art room 
beautiful looked at all rooms with new eyes. The actor uses his 
leisure to see other actors perform. He who sings or writes enjoys 
more discriminatingly all good singing or writing. 

All these things are of prime importance. No one has said it 
better than Keats: 


“Beauty is truth, truth beauty—that is all 
We know on earth, and all we need to know.” 


APPENDIX 
Additional Suggestions 


WRITING AND SPEAKING 


The Red Cross asked the school to provide for some international 
correspondence between school children. The pupils in a ninth grade 
English class became interested. They were given the address of a 
Czecho-Slovakian school, and they sent, every month from then on, a 
kind of book made up of their own writing. The subject of the first 
booklet was Chicago. Another described our Christmas Toy Shop. 


Every occasion on which children can make speeches with an ulterior 
purpose is seized upon by the English teacher. At Christmas, for in- 
stance, our juniors go to every grade in the school to ask for books to 
clean and mend in Toy Shop. 


To a teacher who is watchful, only too many actual needs for writ- 
ing and speaking are presented by school life. Such writing and speak- 
ing contain always a creative element. Ea DSC: 


DALCROZE EURYTHMICS* 
First Grade 


A cave-boy dance—pantomiming the actions of a cave boy stealing 
upon an animal to catch it, seizing it, and executing a dance of exultation 
and victory, or disappointment and defeat if it escapes. 


A little Eskimo—learning to shoot with bow and arrow, ax to use 
the spear. 


Mother Goose rhymes set to music by Elliot. These melodies are 
classics for children and should be given them as a musical background. 
They are also extremely plastic and can be acted out rhythmically with 
ease. 


Second Grade 


The story of Abraham sending his servant to find a wife for Isaac 
was enacted by showing the long train of camels crossing the desert. 
Maidens at the well were carrying water in water jars on their heads, 
and one of these, Rebecca, proved to be the wife sought for Isaac. The 
music used for this was the Arab Song from the Nutcracker Suite by 
Tchaikowsky. 


*For the background assumed in many of these instances, see ‘‘Studies in Educa- 
tion,” Vol. VII. 
168 


APPENDIX 169 


The Early Herdsmen—“The Coming of Summer,” a play written by 
the children from their reading of the book, was chiefly composed of 
dances which they invented showing the attempts of the people to bring 
summer back by frightening the winter god away. “Waking the Earth,” 
“The Eagle Dance,” and the “Sacred Fire Dance” were shown, danced 
to the tom-tom beats in different kinds of rhythms. See article “Creative 
Effort in the Morning Exercise.” 


Third Grade 


The third grade has cooperated with the seniors in producing “Old 
Pipes and the Dryad,” taking the characters of the children, and doing 
the dance of the Echo Dwarfs. Music by Korngold, “The Brownies,” 
was used for this dance. 

Many different Greek plays have been enriched by rhythmic episodes 
such as the ball game of Nausicaa and the torch dance of the Festival 
of Athena. Appropriate music composed by Jaques-Dalcroze has been 
made use of in these instances. lin 1D Jal 


LITTLE CHILDREN’S MELODIES 


In the first grade occasions have arisen for making tunes in con- 
nection with the study of the farm and again in the Eskimo work. 


In the second grade the children have made up music for songs in 
a play, “Isaac and Rebecca.” This year the children made tunes of the 
chicken calls. 

A group of fifth grade girls have one period a week to write original 
tunes for poems they choose themselves. I think this arrangement 
resulted from their interest in writing songs in their Greek work in the 
fourth grade. They worked in the large group in the fourth grade. In 
the fifth grade they want to do individual work, 

For a description of the background work referred to in the first 
and second grades, see “Studies in Education,” Vol. VII. 

La.G. 


DRAMATIZING 


A full discussion of the subject will be found in “Plays and Play- 
making in the Elementary and Secondary Schools,” by John Merrill and 
Martha Fleming. 


CREATIVE EFFORT IN DESIGN 


Gifts for the seniors at graduation: Parchments carrying a quota- 
tion on the theme of the senior “class word” are lettered and decorated 
annually by the seventh grade. One eighth grade made individual book 
plates to give the seniors. 


170 APPENDIX 


One grade designed and applied frescoes for the walls of the first 
grade room and the kindergarten. 


Costumes, scenery, and special curtains are designed by the children 
for their plays. 


Christmas cards are made, and sometimes are sold for charitable 
purposes. 


All the art work for school annual, The Record, is original drawing 
done by high school pupils. 


The eighth grade two years ago made a decorative scheme for their 
room. Every year that grade designs table-desks to make in the shop, 
and decorates them individually after making them. KC; 


DRAWING AND PAINTING 


Everyday life provides adequate provision for creative experiences 
of all kinds. Imagination, that active faculty of the child-mind, is con- 
stantly expressing itself in outward ways; it takes little stimulus to con- 
vert an idea into reality. Material such as clay, paints, pencil, scissors, 
colored paper, without suggestion from the teacher, makes the child 
love to do. It is not necessary for a special occasion to make a reason 
for creative effort: it is a child’s natural way of doing. There are, how- 
ever, school experiences and special days, when the children share with 
the whole school something that is of special interest. 


The morning exercise, County Fair, Field Day, Christmas Toy Shop, 
May Day—these provide motives for original drawings and paintings, 
posters, designs for costumes and toys. There is joyous response to 
such opportunity for creative work. MC: 


THE SHOP 


During the present year the school shop is attempting to express in 
a concrete project the general principle underlying our conception of 
creative activity. The project is centered about the building of a forty- 
foot lake in the school garden, with bays and harbors, one of which is 
skirted by a range of miniature mountains formed of the excavated 
material. The water enters from a small lake in the mountains, flows 
down a mountain stream, drops over a falls, turning a water wheel in 





APPENDIX 171 


its descent, and passes through the miniature village at the foot of the 
mountains and on into a river which winds for a hundred feet, thence 
entering the larger lake. 

Some of the engineering features of the project are the building of 
a series of locks or lifting boats from the lake to the river, building light- 
houses, dry docks, harbor equipment, a number of bridges of various 
types, and an electric railway system which circles the lake, tunnels the 
mountains, and winds its way up to the highest peak. A detailed ac- 
count of the origin and development of the project will be the subject of 
a special publication to be issued by the school in the fall of 1925. 

Other creative projects growing out of the work in the shop have 
been the building of a club house by an eighth grade class, a miniature 
monastery, many boats, from canoes and a 22-foot motorboat down to 
tiny models, airplanes, radio sets, kites, puppet stages, and model steam 
engines and motors. Each year the stage settings for the senior play are 
planned and built by members of the class, and throughout the year the 
facilities of the shop are constantly made use of in working out the set- 
tings for our County Fair, our spring bazaar, and numerous special 
events and amateur dramatics. C. A. K. 


THE MORNING EXERCISE 


See Francis W. Parker School Year Books, Vol. II, “The Morning 
Exercise.” 


PUBLICATIONS OF THE FRANCIS W. PARKER 
SCHOOL 


Books by Members of the Faculty 


Flora J. Cooke. 
Nature Myths and Stories (adapted to children of the lower grades) 
Ae TS OEE AG POE OMICS ot 0 ON Gy 8 CoRR RO PORNO. S A. Flanagan Company 


Grace Vollintine. 
The Making of America (history text for grades 6-8). Territorial 
expansion and settlement of the new lands by Americans and 
by .foreign immigrants. vacuiocseaises cond eile eee ae Ginn & Co. 


Jennie Hall. 
Weavers and Other Workers (supplementary reader for primary 


grades on the romantic side of the textile industry)........... 
TESS Uy Maa: ie care, Ran eon a ee re ier are Rand McNally & Co. 
Four Old Greeks (stories of Achilles, Hercules, Alcestis, Dionysus) 
ROE i eee SLE ey et ity IE Rand McNally & Co. 
Men of Old Greece (stories of Socrates, Themistocles, Leonidas, and 
Phidias, adapted to the middle grades)........ Little, Brown & Co. 
Viking Tales (Part I deals with Norse life; Part II with westward 
exploration) 325 on eee eee ee eee: Rand McNally & Co., 
The Story of Chicago (adapted to grammar and upper grades)... 
bands Ce oh aides Be nae ee ee Soe Rand McNally & Co. 
Our Ancestors in Europe (backgrounds of American history for 
glaniinare eTAdCS) ise pis cle de eeecter tare eta vesier eget Silver, Burdett & Co. 
Buried Cares: alas Men Gee ae re em eae ore ae The Macmillan Co. 


Gudrun Thorne-Thomsen. 
East of the Sun and West of. the Moon (fairy tales for younger 


Children) fais cee can an kos thd eee ees Row Peterson & Co. 
The Birch and the Star (realistic stories for younger children)... 
Pa Padi Sete hand oka e beet tak Whee MLS hte Eirscat ale Ue ome Row Peterson & Co. 
Herman T. Lukens. 
her Biri heSCHOolmy cdi meee eee en ee A. Flanagan Company 
The Connection Between Thought and Memory....... D. C. Heath & Co. 


Jessie Foster Barnes. 
Histories et Jeux, revised (supplementary reading material for second 
and: third syear ‘pupils).cheava ees eee eee oe ce ee Ginn & Co, 


PUBLICATIONS 173 


Studies in Education* 


Volume I. The Social Motive in School Work. 

This volume describes school activities which are controlled by strong 
social motives. The contents include articles on: The Spirit of Giving 
as Developed at Thanksgiving and Christmas; The Setting and Costum- 
ing of a Play; Music in the School Community; Original Composition in 
Music; The School Print Shop; Printing in the Seventh Grade; Care 
of Chickens; Eighth Grade Community Work. 


Volume II. The Morning Exercise as a Socializing Influence. 

In Volume II, the use of the social motive is further illustrated by 
articles describing exercises given in the daily school assemblies. They 
show how classroom work in science, mathematics, geography, literature, 
art, etc., has been utilized. Some exercises are reported verbatim, while 
in others the method of preparation is described. A classified list of 
typical morning exercises is given. 


Volume III. Expression as a Means of Training Motive. 

This volume deals with the place of expression in education. It 
contains an article on the theory of expression, and other articles as 
follows: Play as Fundamenta! in Education; Oral Reading; The Value, 
Place, and Use of the Dramatic Instinct in the Education of Young 
People; Imaginative Writing; Clay Modeling; Metal Working; Making 
a Rug; The Social Application of Painting and Drawing. 


Volume IV. Education Through Concrete Experience. 

The articles in this volume show how the school provides opportunity 
for the pupils to gain adequate mental imagery as a basis of study, 
through individual activity and observation, and through personal contact 
with actual materials. They also show how, through constructive activ- 
ities and projects connected with the school life of the pupil, the applica- 
tion of knowledge gained is demanded. The work of many grades and 
departments is represented, accompanied by many illustrations. 


Volume V. The Course in Science. 

This volume presents the science of both the elementary and high 
school. Following a statement of the general principles controlling the 
selection of material and its organization, the work of each grade and 
high school course is presented separately and completely. Subject mat- 
ter is fully outlined, including much experimental work, methods of 
presentation are indicated, and the outcome is made clear by representa- 
tive pieces of children’s work. An attempt is made throughout the 
volume to show how the work in science may be based entirely upon the 
interests, activities, and problems of the pupil. Lists of reference books 
are included and there are numerous illustrations. 


*The first five volumes were published as Year Books. 


174 PUBLIGATIONS 


Volume VI. The Individual and the Curriculum. 


An account of a year’s trial of the Individual Project Method in 
the Seventh Grade is given in this book. The basic problems and also 
the detail of the daily work of this radical experiment are fully ex- 
plained. Other articles picture the more usual class group doing inde- 
pendent or correlated work in almost every type of subject matter, from 
the freest art expression to the most practical of problems. Still others 
show the school community organized to meet certain social emergencies 
of its own and of the world at large. 


Volume VII. Social Science Series: The Course in History. 


In this volume the history work is presented in full, from the social 
activities of the first grade to the more formal history courses of the 
high school. 


In each grade, some vital period or chapter in the history of human 
progress, some typical race experience characterized by lasting achieve- 
ment, is chosen for intensive study. The basis of selection of this subject 
matter is not a chronological sequence, but the varying characteristics, 
abilities, and stages of development of children. No attempt has been 
made to cover the whole field of history, but problems have been chosen 
which demand initiative, creative imagination, and contact with beauty 
in many forms, and which give daily opportunity for varied and satis- 
fying achievement and self-expression. 


INTRODUCTION—History as a Social Science. 

FIRST GRADE—Social Activities. 

SECOND GRADE—Jndustrial Activities. 

THIRD GRADE—The Story of the Growth of Chicago. 

FOURTH GRADE—The Study of Greek Life. 

FIFTH GRADE—Exploration and Discovery. 

SIXTH GRADE—American: History; Westward Expansion. 

SEVENTH GRADE—The Development of Sea Power. 

EIGHTH GRADE —English History. 

HISTORY IN THE HIGH SCHOOL—Courses in Ancient, Medieval, 
Modern, and United States History. 


Complete. set STUDIES IN EDUCATION, postpaid...4 32. $3.00 
Single*copies? \V olel=7s postpaid ee. en eei oe eee eee 45 
Single copy; Voli. 8, “postpaid e%..;. Antestaede icin ua eats = eee 50 


PUBLICATIONS 175 
Miscellaneous Publications 


Catalog of publications (sent upon request) 


James F. Millis. 


(The Stone-Millis Series of Arithmetics, Algebras and Geometries) 
Hh OSD aN Gea Pe ORE cot See EE CR Benj. H. Sanborn & Co. 


Plays. 


The following plays are ready: Jvanhoe (4 pp.), Robin Hood 
(10 pp.), True Thomas (3 pp.), Lionel of Orkney (4 pp.), Knight and 
Hermit (4 pp.), Return of Douglas (15 pp.), Brotherhood (6 pp.), 
suitable for eighth grade; Paradise of Children (6 pp.), and Return of 
Odysseus (13 pp.), for the fifth grade; Wrath of Achilles (8 pp.), 
Iphigenia at Aulis (8 pp.), for the fourth grade. Man and the Ice 
(6 pp.), The Explorer (5 pp.), suitable for eighth grade; per printed 
page, Ic. 


Francis W. Parker School Leaflets. 
(Grades I-III, inc.) 
Reading lessons on History, Literature, Handwork, Nature Study, 
and experimental Science. Printed in type adapted to the grades in 
which they are to be used and punched for simple binding. 


Pamphlets. 
COLOMEIEE GFE EIR md owen iy we nero Cases chal ARO RENE cone She Saya le eaves 10¢ 
IR NLT A AIS se AL eh tan eet Oy SRD eS AEM ChE EE PAIRS kt RG 0 Ee Li 
SLULCHEMGODEENIMLCN Terman reenter ete eee ey, Goss cation marae ZC 
VISES tm COLOLO OU Camnny: ser cence teat Mite cate are Sere si or votaear aaoaah ame she 6 ee 25c 
Wipe TRA el (Gtose Sea la eNO) oe oo stn ne 6S obra Hobo. CA poo eo e 20c 
Social Motive in Arithmetic (monograph)................e+esceeees Bye 
SOMOMASPEGUSmONm artIVECI Gm (he Dist mint; OLeN (Oley) enepeneueneustentey arrest G 
The School Shop and the Christmas Spirit (reprint from Vol. I).... 5c 
Social Science Series—History Reprints (by grades) each........... 10c 
Ue iuLaVnO; Gre ndusirys (reprint nome V Ol TY ))cume settee ine eet 5¢ 
Mental Imagery in Geography (reprint from Vol. IV.)............. ie 
EHO SSN EF oP LIN OP YET OES naetrin oon eames wh cnladaa eek £52 eee 5¢ 
GONSELUCHONM EI Orie AISimGTaGde tt. aes oeaie eden ee eee ene 2c 
PTET IC VOT GOI cd EES te hte Wiad Heir Tavakiewiayne oaks soot ove tay a 2c 


Course of Study. (Sent upon request.) Grades 1-12 


Publication Dept. 
FRANCIS W. PARKER SCHOOL 
330 Webster Avenue 
Chicago 








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